Pacific Magazine > Magazine > April 1, 2002

Cover Story

Turning Perfume Plant into Perfume Manufacturing

That's what French Polynesia is hoping

By Robert Keith-Reid

Dr Isabelle Vahirua-Lechat is at the vanguard of French Polynesia's hopes for diversifying its narrow tourism, pearl farm and aid based economy. What she explores in the Natural Products Laboratory at the Malarde Institute in Papeete offers hope for the growth of perfume manufacturing and some other purposes.

The French Polynesian researcher took her doctorate in organic chemistry with a thesis that dealt with the compounds of the essential oils extractable from French Polynesia's medicinal and aromatic plants. French Polynesians have a century-old tradition of using perfuming plants for medicinal preparations and body oils.

Some of the endemic plants used by them are on the verge of extinction and have never been analysed.

Isabelle Vahirua-Lechat: offers hope.

"It appears urgent to analyse them and support their protection," Vahirua-Lechat says. Her laboratory has so far studied the chemical composition of about 200 essential oils extracted from different parts of 20 aromatic plants used by traditional healers, the tahu'a. While all parts of a plant may contain oil, what one part yields can be quite different from another. Plants usually have an essential oil content of less than one percent. Such heavy levels as 15 percent for the floral bud of the clove tree are an exception. Some of the laboratory¹s findings:

The ripe fruit of Pandanus, a tree three to 10 metres high, yields a sweet smell acetate used widely by perfume manufacturers. It blends well with essences of orange, lavender, rose, Lily of the Valley, ylang ylang and with leather and oriental perfumes.

Pandanus Ethyl cinnamate is another plant used for making perfumes since it has quite a good clinging power. It is also used as an agent for imitating the aromas of cherries, cinnamon, grapes, plums, raspberries and some other fruits.

Marquesan sandalwood oil appears to be superior to Indian sandalwood for the purpose of perfumes, being in the terminology of the perfume business not as greasy and less buttery. A further assessment by a German world leader in essential oils distributions gave it a positive rating.

Lantana camara, a shrub introduced to French Polynesia from South America, yielded 13 oils from its leaves. While its essences could be economically turned into a perfume industry or used for aromatherapy, its low yields of essence are a drawback.

Ageratum Conyzoides, or Maire vaihi (English blue ageratum) has medicinal uses in Africa, the Indian Ocean, Hawaii and French Polynesia, and produces substances with potential for the control of insects by rendering them sterile.

Plectranthus Amboinicus, called Niaouri in French Polynesia, originated from the Mollucas Islands in Indonesia, where it is used as a condiment and for medicinal treatments. Nine essences were extracted from local plants. Some are of pharmacological interest, but one substance has the drawback of being toxic.

Ocimum Gratissimu, or Miri taratoni, is a herb, which grows up to three metres in badly kept coconut groves. It has traditional uses for the treatment of respiratory infections, diarrhoea, headaches, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, colds and skin disease.

Freshly cut flowers are used in infusion for people suffering from urinary retention. The laboratory extracted eight oils having a high content of Eugene with a strong slightly spicy smell. This could be used for a variety of perfume bases, which could be developed profitably for the local manufacture of perfume.