My first impulse as an orchid grower is to pollinate the
flowers, but I have an orchid show coming up next weekend in Seaside, Oregon,
and hope that the flowers will last long enough to make it there and back
before doing anything to them.
Since reading up on orchid fragrance analyses for the
making of the “Orchid 17” accord for Sonnet XVII, I’ve started to recognize
individual aroma chemical molecules in the fragrances of the orchids that bloom
in my greenhouse. What I smell strongly in Laelia anceps is gamma-decalactone.
This molecule is a component of many fruit and flower fragrances including
gardenia, peach, apricot, and osmanthus as well as fermented products like beer.
It’s also used as part of the pheromone communication systems of certain insects.
For example, male scarab beetles emit it to attract females – the legendary
“chick magnet” fragrance, if you’re a scarab beetle.
In most of the fruits and flowers that contain
gamma-decalactone, it’s buried in among many other things, simply rounding,
flattening, and mattifying, the scent, but in Laelia anceps, it’s up front and
center stage. It’s described by The Good Scents Company as “fresh, oily, waxy,
peach, coconut, buttery, sweet”, but that really isn’t how it smells to me.
TGSC’s description is more a list of odors that might contain the molecule
rather than the odor of the molecule itself. To me, it’s flat or slightly
concave, matte, neutral colored, and almost sour, sort of like the smell of a sour
dishrag - a sweetish, slightly fermented scent. Laelia anceps surrounds its
overdose of gamma-decalactone with just enough bright, fresh floral notes to push
it barely over the edge into pleasant territory. I’m sure the insects would love
it if I put it outside for them.
Gamma-decalactone always smells like "hyper-coconut" to me, how interesting how it exists in the world-thank you for the cool info. And what a blessing of blossoms you have right now!
ReplyDeleteMarla, the blossoms are really beautiful right now. The red cattleya is just opening up with 8 flowers, so dark red they're almost black. It usually blooms later in the fall, but this year it was in a big hurry! I'm looking forward to enjoying tis fragrance.
DeleteI love the way your broke down the components and described this laelia scent. You've got it! The sweetish, slightly fermented IS made more presentable by the fresh, floral notes...kind of like a student of mine who comes to her lesson directly from cross country. On the way to the lesson she probably spays herself with some floral scent or other, but the sweaty perspiration is still there floating around the pianos and that's OK! I wonder what secret scents lurk beneath my parrot Gomez' honey and powdery top notes? Sometimes I can smell wet gym socks! Gail
ReplyDeleteGail, that's a funny description of your student! I think a lot of floral scents probably smell better if mixed with some sweat. When I met Gomez, he smelled really good, with no sweaty gym socks. Maybe he was pouring on the nice scent for me!
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