Tree native to the Philippines and Indonesia whose yellow, pink or purple flowers inspired Mallarmé. It has a greyish-brown trunk, bright green evergreen leaves with very pronounced veins and large starry yellow flowers when they are mature. It also produces fruits, small green berries that turn black and are edible.
In Indonesia, the sweet-smelling flowers were traditionally placed on the bed in the bridal room. In 1909, it is said that there were 200,000 trees in ylang ylang ylang in Reunion Island, whose cultivation was abandoned because of the frequency of cyclones. Production is currently mainly in the Comoros and Madagascar. It is also sometimes called: flower of flowers, flower dancing in the breeze, Celtic nard, Cananga flower.
Filipinos mixed the flowers with coconut oil and turmeric to obtain “boori-boori”, an anti-infective balm that protects the skin and hair.
The heady fragrance of the flowers is not revealed in the wild but only when the tree is cultivated. The ylang ylang ylang tree, which can measure up to 20 to 30 metres high in the wild, is pruned, in cultivation, at human height.
Ylang-ylang refers to the tree in the Filipino language.
Indications :
Hypertension / Diabetes / Skin diseases / Hair loss / Stress / Insomnia
Synergies :
– For its antidepressant properties, combine with an essential oil of lemon verbena
– To calm high blood pressure, combine with an essential oil of Fine Lavender
Yield :
It takes about 50kg of flowers to obtain 1kg of essential oil.