FRAGRANCE IN THE NATURAL ORDERS 215 THE NUMERICAL •AGNITUDE OF THE NATURAL ORDERS We find in any of the Wild Flower pocket-books that about 50 Orders are represented in Northern Europe, allowing about the same number for the common garden flowers, as well as upwards of 40 Orders indigenous to North America. When we come to our own particular preserves of Orders embracing the essential oils of commerce, the texts of Parry (1925) and more recently of Guenther, we find these are concerned with the comparatively modest total of 60, but when we approach the more comprehensive botanical tomes covering both hemispheres, we find that these detail something like 325 Orders, concomitant with thousands of genera and millions of species. I am able to state that quite a number of these 325 Orders are, as it were, botanical curiosities there are also pointers which indicate the unlikeliness of fragrance or malodours, and in other directions, like the mignonette and bog myrtle, with only one genus and but a few species, which narrows the work into certain fairly-well-defined channels. Regarding the major Orders, statistically, the investigator is faced with the following: The Compositae, or compound flowers .. 1,000 genera, 14,000 species. The Leguminosae, or pea and bean family 400 ,, 6,500 ,, The Orchids ........ 400 ,, 6,000 ,, The Madders or gardenia Family .. 400 ,, 4,500 ,, while the Urnbe!lifers, Labiates and Euphorbias average about 250 genera and from 2,000 to 4,000 species. As mentioned earlier, a preliminary scrutiny of the genera and species listed in sundry European and Overseas cyclopeedias, from their adjective names, odorata, fragrans, foetida and so on, compresses the useful information into a compass which can be handled fairly easily, and then studied as a whole to decide upon the types of fragrance fairly well represented in an Order. Based upon a consensus of opinion or first-hand knowledge, one may there- fore draw a broad conclusion that among the Compositae for example, the basic odour type is the medicinal herbal, as is evinced from the presence of chamomile, southern-wood, marigold, tansy, tarragon and wormwood. In a general way these plants may be described as having a warm aromatic odour, but in a different key this also pertains to the sector which houses the musk- millefoils, the fragrant musky olearias, sundry thistles and the resinous Grindelias but on a further search we come across something of the pure floral type as is noted with the winter-flowering heliotropes, the violet- scented Cinerarias, the fragrant clove-scented Centaureas and the lemon- perfumed Coreopsis. This very brief resume of the Compositae may, I think, be regarded as demonstrating the technique evolved for the location of fragrance and maleo-

216 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS lence within the Natural Orders, and from these listings, sundry conclusions can be drawn by the perfumer seeking new ideas, for in this particular instance we have a four-fold osrnically compatible theme of garden flowers offering sundry subtle blendings, the bouquet of which could doubtless be enhanced by a vegetal musky-amber back-note and intriguingly nuanced by a light touch from some of the herbals. (1) Proceeding along these lines, the Natural Orders gradually reveal their basic (and sometimes latent) fragrances, for example, among the Umbellifers, which all bear insignificant 'sun-shades' of small yellowish-white flowers, the seeds and foliage are the aromatic receptors, and chiefly of culinary interest, embracing anise, caraway, dill, coriander, cumin, fennel and lovage--here we find the basic fragrance-pattern involves anetho!e, fenchone and carvone. Another sector reveals the fragrance of the musky- ambered Angelica lactones which are allied to the sweet cice!eys or chervils of the garden, which bear the Latin name of Myrrhis odorata, while among the 'Orientals,' we encounter the dreadfully-odoured A safoetidas which have a complement of secondary butyl propenyl disulphides, but to offset this we find there are several Sardinian plants, such as the Bluperimns which offer delightful neroli-like scents. In addition, among the 275 genera and upwards of 2,000 species, there are many interesting herbal-floral nuances in this family to be found along the Mediterranean littoral. (2) The Labiates: Among the small lip-like flo•vers we find an interesting interweaving of the sweet-scented and the pot-herbs, for example, the balms, basils, lavenders, clary sage and rosemary, while marjoram, white horehound, peppermint and pennyroyal have medicinal uses, and finally the culinary group, housing sage, savory, many mints, thyme and tarragon. An alternative vista is opened with the Monardas, these are the wild bergamots, of which the characteristic lemon-balm and melissa-vervein nuance is probably seen to best advantage in Monarda citruodora, while the three basil types embrace the incidence of methyl cinnamate, camphor and citral. A fully study should review 270 genera and over 3,000 species. (3) The Legumes: The sweet pea family invites a consideration of over 400 genera and upwards of 6,500 species--an Order literally abounding in pure floral scents. The osmical panorama which gradually unfolds contains the familiar sweet peas, the laburnums, acacias, mimosas and brooms, the oriental cassias, the more complex-odoured Japanese Sophoras, the spicy balsamic-scented South American Calliandras and a plethora of unique liaisons yielding intriguing bouquets for the perfumer to cogitate upon. (4) The Crucifers: This is the cress family, offering in the floral sector many sweet almond-hawthorn-vanilla scented Arabis and Alyssums and ethereal j asmin-like scents among the night-flowering hesperis, stocks and •vallflowers, essentially denizens of the cool Northern hemisphere, for I find