_Cananga odorata_, according to Hooker and Thomson or Bentham and Hooker,[1] is the only species of this genus; the plants formerly classed together with it under the names _Unona_ or _Uvaria_, among which some equally possess odorous flowers, are now distributed between those two genera, which are tolerably rich in species. From _Uvaria_ the _Cananga_ differs in its valvate petals, and from _Unona_ in the arrangement of the seeds in two rows. [Footnote 1: "Genera Plantarum," i, (1864), 24.] _Cananga odorata_ is distributed throughout all Southern Asia, mostly, however, as a cultivated plant. In the primitive forest the tree is much higher, but the flowers are, according to Blume, almost odorless. In habit the Cananga resembles the _Michelia champaca_, L.,[1] of the family Magnoliaceæ, an Indian tree extraordinarily prized on account of the very pleasant perfume of its yellow flowers, and which was already highly celebrated in ancient times in India. Among the admired fragrant flowers which are the most prized by the in this respect pampered Javanese, the "Tjempaka" (_Michelia champaca_) and the "Kenangga wangi" (_Cananga odorata_)[2] stand in the first rank. [Footnote 1: A beautiful figure of this also is given in Blume's "Flora Javæ," iii., Magnoliaceæ, tab. I.] [Footnote 2: Junghuhn, Java, Leipsic, 1852, 166.] It is not known to me whether the oil of cananga was prepared in former times. It appears to have first reached Europe about 1864; in Paris and London its choice perfume found full recognition.[1] The quantities, evidently only very small, that were first imported from the Indian Archipelago were followed immediately by somewhat larger consignments from Manila, where German pharmacists occupied themselves with the distillation of the oil.[2] [Footnote 1: _Jahresbericht d. Pharmacie_, by Wiggers and Husemann, 1867, 422.] [Footnote 2: _Jahresbericht_, 1868, 166.] Oscar Reymann and Adolf Ronsch, of Manila, exhibited the ilang-ilang oil in Paris in 1878; the former also showed the Cananga flowers. The oil of the flowers of the before-mentioned _Michelia champaca_, which stood next to it, competes with the cananga oil, or ilang-ilang oil, in respect to fragrance.[1] How far the latter has found acceptance is difficult to determine; a lowering of the price which it has undergone indicates probably a somewhat larger demand. At present it may be obtained in Germany for about 600 marks (£30) the kilogramme.[2] Since the Cananga tree can be so very easily cultivated in all warm countries, and probably everywhere bears flowers endowed with the same pleasant perfume, it must be possible for the oil to be produced far more cheaply, notwithstanding that the yield is always small.[3] It may be questioned whether the tree might not, for instance, succeed in Algeria, where already so many exotic perfumery plants are found. [Footnote 1: _Archiv der Pharmacie_, ccxiv. (1879), 18.]