What REALLY goes up your nose when smelling Maxillaria...

[JanS]

Having recently acquired a really nice Max. tenuifolia specimen and seeing recent and past threads about it here (it was this board's 2010 "project"), I've been looking around the web for some more information - particularly what it actually looks like when growing in nature.

Instead, I happened upon this genuine scientific paper that analyzed the volatile compounds coming off its flowers using...get this..."headspace-solid phase microextraction"! I can just imagine a bunch of people in lab coats running around with orchids in a mad science lab.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this for the scientifically inclined. For those not wanting to read the paper (at least check out some of the references) here's the summary: you sniff 34 compounds from the plant; lactones are the ones causing the "coconut" fragrance...but represent only 2% of the total volatiles that go up your nose. I wonder if our dog can smell some of the rest?

Here's the reference:
http://www.labplus.co.kr/tech/upload...EC%84%9D_1.pdf

[gnathaniel]

Very interesting, thanks for posting this, Jan! You should look for the book The Scent of Orchids by Roman Kaiser. I don't have much knowledge of organic chemistry so a lot of it was over my head, but it's still a fascinating read.

--Nat

[cb977]

What a great post! Thank you!!!

Now that you mention it, I realize how right you are about our dogs! Their little noses must be working overtime when lots of chids are in bloom at the same time!!!

[JanS]

Thanks, Nat, for the tip about the Scent of Orchids book. I thought it was a "must have"...until I found it on Amazon.com for (this is not a misprint): New $548.44, Used $257.99!!!!! Another seller has it used for $200. It made me ponder how many actual, LIVE orchids I can buy for the same amount!

On a related subject, it makes me wonder who provides research funding for this type of analysis work. Note that the paper I posted came from France - I bet it's the perfume industry fronting funds for this research. I remember an article in an old National Geographic magazine about perfumes and it mentioned the major perfume companies used to actually sponsor people to take trips into the world's jungles to seek out orchids with new or unusual scents, bring them back and their chemists would then try to isolate the compounds in hopes of concocting a new perfume....