What is the Perfume Project?

This blog is a constantly evolving forum for thoughts on perfume, perfume-making, plants (especially orchids and flora of the Pacific Northwest) and life in general. It started out chronicling the adventures of Olympic Orchids Perfumes, established in July 2010, and has expanded in other directions. A big part of the blog is thinking about the ongoing process of learning and experimentation that leads to new perfumes, the exploration of perfumery materials, the theory and practice of perfume making, the challenges of marketing perfumes and other fragrance products, and random observations on philosophy and society. Spam comments will be marked as such and deleted; any comments that go beyond the boundaries of civil discourse will also be deleted. I am grateful to all of you, the readers, who contribute to the blog by commenting and making this a truly interactive perfume project.

Friday, October 18, 2013

ONE MORE REASON TO HATE ENGLISH IVY


English Ivy, also called Hedera helix, is somewhere up there just below blackberries on the list of plants I hate. In Washington, it’s classified as a “Class C noxious weed”, which means that it’s a non-native plant that has already invaded so much territory that the state has completely given up on controlling it, let alone eradicating it. Our neighbors to the south grow it in their garden, and it’s a constant battle to keep it out of our back yard.

I’ve always disliked ivy because it spreads like wildfire, smothers and kills everything in its path on the ground, and even climbs up huge trees and slowly chokes them to death. It isn’t even an attractive plant, like bamboo, or a fruit-producing plant like blackberries.

For the past two months I’ve been too busy to go running, but this week I’ve been trying to get out and do it a few times. Yesterday I went out just before sunset, and as I neared the end of our road I was assaulted by a smell that was like one of those open drains that one sometimes encounters in places with no access to public sewer lines, where everything from sewage to bath water and laundry water gets dumped. But it wasn’t just the open drain smell. This odor also had a strong component of semen. Yes, it was a strange combination of semen, sewage, and rotting laundry detergent.

I had no idea what the smell might be, but was even more surprised to smell exactly the same odor again, even stronger, a half-mile or so down a side road. The only thing I could see that might be responsible was a large ivy-covered fence or wall. The ivy looked like it was in bloom, with spherical clusters of small, unattractive, greenish flowers. I passed by the ivy, knowing that if I smelled the odor on the way back, I would need to stop and stick my nose in it to confirm that it was the ivy.

Sure enough, long before I reached the ivy on the return trip I started to smell it. Once I was close to it, there was no doubt. The scent from a cluster of ivy flowers is almost enough to knock you over. Sewage, rotten detergent, and a whopping big dose of semen. I know many small, white flowers smell like semen (a topic for another post), but ivy adds other unpleasant notes to it, making for a really aversive olfactory experience.

I did learn something from my encounter with the stinky flowers. Ivy blooms in the fall, with the berries ripening in the spring, when food for birds is scarce. Nature has designed yet another bird-propagated plant destined to take over the world if allowed to.

The funny thing is that there are so many “English ivy” fragrance products on the market, mostly fragrance oils and candles. I wonder if the people who come up with these products have ever smelled English ivy flowers? In all fairness, they’re probably thinking about the leaves, which just have a vaguely spicy, waxy, sharp and toxic-unpleasant green-plant smell. I don’t think I would want my house or my person to smell that way, but to each his own. More likely, they’re thinking of some abstract rendition of ancient ivy-covered architectural structures in England, something that seems to fascinate the many Anglo-Saxon wannabes in the US.

The Good Scents Company lists Hedera helix absolute as a perfume ingredient, but apparently there are no suppliers of it. That’s not too surprising given that similar effects can be achieved with other green materials like violet leaf absolute, but it is surprising given how abundant and cheap the raw material would be. Maybe it’s because English ivy is reported to cause contact dermatitis in some people, so it’s not a good thing to put in perfume. One more reason to dislike ivy. 

[I don't take my phone with me when I run, so didn't get any photos of the actual plant that emitted the smell. These photos are all adapted from Wikimedia.] 

15 comments:

  1. This stuff really is rank! And it is almost impossible to get rid of. The best control seems to be a weed burner. The heat goes down and kills at least part of the massive, woody root systems. This past year we have been pulling and burning and still have more ivy coming up. We clean it off the trees regularly because, as you mentioned, Hedera helix will smother trees, even the tallest of evergreen. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that rats love living in english ivy.

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    1. Oh, the rats! One more reason to hate English ivy!

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  2. I generally love smelly plants, but after reading your post, I'm sure glad ivy doesn't grow on my sand dune! Yucko!

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    1. Yes, you are indeed lucky that ivy doesn't grow on your sand dune!

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  3. Yuck is right-good to know all the info! Glad i don't have any.I never seen any bloom myself,

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    1. I had probably seen ivy blooming before, but was not aware of how it smelled, or that it bloomed in the fall. You learn something every day!

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  4. Though I love English ivy in it's place- namely in a climate that doesn't encourage it's rapid growth, but where it has to struggle- I'm appalled by what it's done to the land above the beaches in Oregon and northern California. It literally covers everything in a sea of itself.

    Oh, and it's not just rats and mice that love it's cover- it's a haven for slugs and snails.

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    1. OOOh .... slugs and snails! Yet another reason to hate English ivy. They just keep coming!

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  5. Intersting indeed, while researching I found this site but much to my dismay because unlike you, I adore Ivy- it's smell perfume to my scenses, it's growth a tribute to tenacity. I live in a Florida a world of pervasive weeds, English Ivy is a welcome friend. Just goes to show there is good/bad a light/dark to all things in nature.

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    1. Yes, I agree, I love the smell of ivy, so beautiful and a wonderful food source for many pollinators late in the season.

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  6. One reason to like ivy, is it provides an important pollen source for bees when other sources are scarce. And without bees? which are declining. So a positive at least?

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    1. A very big positive. Beekeepers love ivy, it's such a great food source late in the season and the honey the bees create with it is unique in flavour and scent.

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  7. on a positive note, ivy flowers are really valuable source of late-season nectar for honeybees and other pollinating insects, who depend on it for food at a time where there is very little else around. Ivy honey, if extracted and processed correctly (preserving the natural enzymes) has similar properties to manuka - and, fortunately, does not taste like you here describe the smell!

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    1. Yes, ivy flowers are a real blessing for the bees and then the flowers turn to berries to feed the birds just when they need it the most. A gift for the wildlife.

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