Passionflower Absolute

#### Passionflower. Although mainly cultivated for their delicious, edible fruits, or for the beauty of their flowers, the various species of **Passiflora **also include some with very fragrant flowers. The genus Passiflora probably originated in South or Central America, but many species are now cultivated in tropical countries all over the world. The **Lilikoi **of Hawaii is a passionflower. Several species are cultivated in Bermuda, tropical west-Atlantic islands, for the purpose of extracting perfume from the flowers by the "enfleurage" method (see chapter on **Pommade**, Part One of this book). Let it be said at once that the perfume produced from these flowers in Bermuda, amount to a mere fraction of the various Bermuda-produced perfumes. The **Passionflower**** ****Absolute**** **as such is not commercially available from Bermuda. The same can be said about the "Bermuda-lily" (see **Lilium Candidum**). An "absolute" of this flower is also produced in Bermuda for the use in special "Bermuda perfumes". The amount of hydroxycitronellal and other synthetic perfume materials imported to these islands will tell more about the composition of these perfumes. Since fragrant species of passiflora are plentiful, a production of a true **Passionflower**** ****Absolute** is possible, although not presently a reality to the author's opinion. A number of **Passiflora**** **species produce edible fruits, e.g. the Australian **Grenadil**** **fruit (also a native of Brazil), or the giant, cube-shaped **Barbadin **fruit. Passionflower perfumes are often composed as simple modifications of honeysuckle perfumes from natural and synthetic raw materials.