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  <title>Roses and their fragrance</title>
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<h2>
<font size="+1">University of Vermont Extension&nbsp;<br>














Department of Plant and Soil Science</font></h2>














<img src="gmglogo.jpg" height="63" width="352"><b><font size="+1"> Anytime News
Article</font></b>
<br>













<img src="http://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/greenline.gif" nosave="" height="5" width="100%">
<br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>
</span><big><big><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></big></big><big><big><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></big></big><big><big><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">ROSES AND THEIR FRAGRANCE</span></big></big><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span><br>



<br>

Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor<br>


University of Vermont

<br>

<br>

Most when they see a rose bend down
to sniff.&nbsp; If you&rsquo;re like me, you
probably never really thought much about rose fragrance except if it&rsquo;s missing,
faint, or how nice it is.&nbsp; Just what
gives a rose its wonderful fragrance, and how this is used, is complex and
fascinating.

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

Roses have been around and are
documented longer than most of our garden plants.&nbsp; The earliest record of them seems to be rose
leaves found in the Colorado Rockies, dating back 35 to 32 million years to the
Paleolithic era.&nbsp; First mention of them,
and their appearance in artistic motifs, was in Asia
about 3000BC, with mention elsewhere about 2300 BC.&nbsp; 

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

The fragrance of roses was valued by
the Romans, used to scent rooms and after bathing.&nbsp; Cleopatra supposedly filled a room over a
foot deep with rose petals while wooing Marc Anthony.&nbsp; The two main roses used in this era were the
Damask and Gallica types.

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

Rose oil, often seen as &ldquo;attar of
roses&rdquo; or &ldquo;rose otto&rdquo;, was probably first made in 10th century Persia.
&nbsp;This was the first import of roses to Europe, leading to the
subsequent growing of the plants
there.
<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

Prior to the Victorian era of the
late 1800&rsquo;s, fragrance in flowers was used for functions such as medicinally or
to hide odors.&nbsp; This period saw the use
of flowers in gardens and homes merely for their pleasing fragrance.&nbsp; This era also saw the first attempts to
define and classify scents.&nbsp; Yet, it
wasn&rsquo;t until later in the last century that the seven main rose scents were
accepted, and the responsible chemicals identified.

<br>

&nbsp;

<br>

The seven main rose scents are rose (or
damask), nasturtium, orris (which is similar to violets), violets, apple,
clove, and lemon (the fruit, not the blossoms).&nbsp;
Orris is a compound used to fix or preserve odors.&nbsp; Then there are 26 other less common odors you
may smell in roses.&nbsp; These include such
diverse ones as honeysuckle, moss, hyacinth, honey, wine, marigold, peppers,
parsley, and fruits such as raspberry.&nbsp; 

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

Scent in roses, depending on which
one, comes from one or more of over 300 chemical compounds.&nbsp; Yet in rose oil, only four make up less than
one percent but produce over 90 percent of the fragrance.&nbsp; 

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

If you think rose scent is getting
complicated, consider how we smell.&nbsp;
These chemicals evaporate and our nose receptors pick up the volatile
compounds.&nbsp; Each of these evaporate at a
different rate, which means that rose fragrance will change over time.&nbsp; For example, clove evaporates 36 times more
slowly than citrus, so once you pick up a citrus scent it can disappear with
the clove scent appearing later.

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

Scent not only changes over time,
but with time of day.&nbsp; Early morning is
when scents are strongest, the oils most powerful, and so when roses are
harvested for rose oil.&nbsp; Rose scent may
be more powerful with the first blooms of summer.&nbsp; Rose scent even can change from outdoors to
indoors.&nbsp; Just the cutting can change the
chemical releases that we smell, so a rose not very fragrant outdoors may be
quite scented once in a vase inside.

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

The other fact to keep in mind is
that scent in flowers, including roses, is not meant by nature for us but
rather for the pollinators of the flowers.&nbsp;
Scents in flowers are signals to those pollinators such as some bees to
come visit the flowers, and are often smelled before they see the flowers.&nbsp; Flowers release scent when they are ready to
be pollinated, which in roses often translates to a more powerful scent when
flowers are half open.

<br>

 &nbsp;

<br>

In general, roses with the best scents
are darker colors, have more petals, and have thick or velvety petals.&nbsp; Red and pink roses often smell like what we
term &ldquo;rose&rdquo;.&nbsp; White and yellows often
smell of violets, nasturtium, and lemon.&nbsp;
Orange roses often smell of fruits, violets, nasturtium, and clove.

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

Most true rose oil comes from Bulgaria, Morocco,
Iran, Turkey, and more recently from China.&nbsp; The oil is extracted from the petals either
with alcohol or through distillation.&nbsp;
The true oil is very expensive as it takes about 250 pounds of petals to
make a mere ounce of oil.&nbsp; For this
reason, rose oil is often diluted with similarly scented oils such as geraniol
from geraniums, or even the synthetic phenylethanol.&nbsp; While fine for fragrance uses, and excellent
for making them affordable, if using rose oil medicinally you need the true oil
and not a product marked &ldquo;fragrance&rdquo;.&nbsp; 

<br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

Rose oil has been used medicinally
from the ancient Chinese, through medieval times, even through the
present.&nbsp; One use is for skincare,
especially for dry, sensitive, and aging skin.&nbsp;
Another use is as a mild sedative, antidepressant, and for stress
conditions.&nbsp; Rose oil (or tea from the
petals) may help digestion, stomach ailments, or sore throat.&nbsp; Vitamins
A, C, and P come from roses.&nbsp; Rose scent even may aid memory.&nbsp; In a
German study, people spritzed with rose
scent during a memory exercise, then again while sleeping, had 13
percent
better recall.&nbsp;

 <br>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>

The next time you smell a rose, try
and discern some of the many possible scents and how they change over time and
under different conditions.<br>








 
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