The Fragrant
Garden
- Essential
Oils
 The Fragrant Garden at the Christchurch Botanic
Gardens was a 1990 sesquicentennial year project gifted
to the Gardens through the combined efforts of local
women's organisations.
This garden, situated to the west of
Cuningham House, contains a selection of trees, shrubs
and herbaceous perennials particularly noted for their
fragrant qualities.
The first reaction for many people
after looking briefly at unfamiliar flower is to smell it
and then express some disappointment if it has no scent.
Most people associate the garden with fragrance and it is
difficult to imagine one without a haunting vestige of
aroma.
Scent in plants is due to potent
essential oils contained in minute glands on or within
one or more parts of a plant. The petals, stamens and
pollen of most flowers contain these essential oils,
providing us with some of the most exquisite of
fragrances.
In some plants however, these oils may
flourish in the foliage of a plant as with mint and
thyme. A number of oils are also found in bark as in
cinnamon or in wood as in sandalwood and the incense
cedar. Plants including the lemon and orange contain
essential oils in the rind of the fruit while in others
these oils are found in the root or rhizome of a plant as
occurs in orris root.
Many plants release their scent freely
with their fragrance drifting great distances. Their
detection is sometimes influenced by temperature and
other climatic conditions. Often a plant's essential oils
are stored on the leaf surface in easily broken flask or
globe-shaped cells. These plants should therefore be
positioned where their foliage can be touched or brushed
against. It is the chemical make-up of essential oils
that determine the scent's character. These scents
encompass a wide variety of fragrances such as aromatic,
sharp, sweet or richly pungent. The attractiveness of a
plant's fragrance is a highly personal matter. Opinions
are often sharply divided with some considering a
fragrance as pleasantly aromatic while others find it
distinctly abhorrent. The strength as well as the quality
of a fragrance can also be very differently perceived
with some people noticing fragrances in plants that are
usually considered odourless.
When next walking around the Gardens,
remember to take note of clues that are given in the name
of a plant such as citriodora, fragrans,
fragrantissimus and odoratus for so
many of these plants gratify the nose as well as the eye,
yes, even in autumn.
The Christchurch Botanic Gardens
are managed by the Botanical Services
Section of the Parks Unit,
Christchurch City Council
PO BOX 237
Christchurch
PH: (03) 366-1701
Fax: (03) 366-6836
CONTACT: Richard Doyle.
|
