Botanical Name: Cananga odorata
Plant Part Flowers
Extraction Method Steam Distillation
Origin Indonesia
Description A tall tropical tree up to 20m high with large, tender, fragrant flowers, which can be pink, mauve or yellow. The yellow flowers are considered best for the extraction of essential oil.
Color Yellow to orange yellow
Common Uses Aphrodesiac, anti-depressant, anti-infectious, antiseborrheic, antiseptic, euphoric, hypotensive, nervine, regulator, sedative (nervous), stimulant (circulatory), tonic.
Strength of Aroma Strong
Blends well with Rosewood, jasmine, vetiver, opopanax, bergamot, mimosa, cassia and rose.
Aromatic Scent Cananga has a sweet, exotic, deeply floral and heady with a creamy note. Cananga oil extracted from the flowers of plants growing in Java is said to contain fewer esters and more sesquiterpenes than ylang-ylang oil extracted from flowers growing in Reunion, Madagascar, and the Comoro Islands.
History The Cananga is a common village tree in Malaysia. Its fragrant flowers are worn for personal adornment. Long used for its sensual and aphrodisiacal properties, the fresh flowers are strewn on the beds of newly married couples. It was introduced to the island of Reunion in the western Indian Ocean in the late 18th century, and from there to Nossi-Be and the Comoro Islands about a century ago. The oil distilled from the flowers is known as cananga oil.
Cautions Non-toxic. Possible sensitization. Use well diluted.