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Aglaia Odorata Lour is one of the genus Aglaia Lour family. One of the interesting species in the genus Aglaia Lour is none other than Aglaia Odorata. Aglaia Lour is one of the largest genera of the Meliaceae family, with more than 120 species. This genus Aglaia has spread in various tropical and subtropical rainforest areas of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. In China, the type of microphylla Aglaia Odorata is one of the cultivated plants, especially for the production of rocaglamides compounds (cancer drugs). Aglaia Odorata Chinese name is 米仔蘭 “Mǐ zǐ lán.” In comparison, the common name of this Chinese Perfume Plant is Mock Lemon or Chu-lan Tree.
How do You Propagate Aglaia Odorata?
Aglaia Odorata plants have benefits for human life. That’s why many people grow Aglaia Odorata in their homes. Aglaia Odorata propagation is mostly done to take advantage of the perfume produced by these plants. Aglaia Odorata has a sweet fragrance and a pleasant citrus aroma.
You can plant this Chinese perfume plant in the lowlands and highlands. They will grow well if planted in a tropical climate. If you want to grow them in a pot, use a pot with a diameter of more than 40cm. It is better to use a humus soil type that is rich in nutrients. Apart from growing it from Aglaia Odorata seeds, Aglaia Odorata propagation can also be grown from a cutting or using the air layering method.
How do You Take Care of A Chinese Perfume Plant?
Chinese perfume plants are easy to care for. Proper placement of the Chinese perfume plant is one of the treatments that must be done. Placing this plant must be done according to the weather and season. In spring and summer, you can put it outside to get sunshine in the morning until noon. However, when the temperature drops at night, place them indoor by a window.
Watering this Chinese perfume plant should be done as often as possible because it can’t be dry to keep it alive. Therefore you have to keep the humidity. Water it frequently to keep the soil moist but don’t let water stagnate when watering. To keep the soil moist, you can also add a layer of gravel around the plant. It will provide moisture around the plant as the air evaporates.
To fertilize your Chinese perfume plants, use regular fertilizers. Do it after you remove the weeds around your Aglaia Odorata plant.
What Plants are Used for Perfume?
There are so many types of plants that can be used as perfumes besides Aglaia Odorata. Aglaia Odorata flowers have a flower shape that resembles a small ball and is inconspicuous yellow. That is what makes Aglaia Odorata flowers called rice flowers because of their small shape like rice seeds. The fragrance that the flowers of the Chinese perfume plant produce are a sweet and lemon-like scent. Stronger during the day than at night. They are commonly used as cupboard fragrances by drying the flowers and leaves.
Here are other plants that are commonly used as a mixture for making perfume:
1. Rose
This flower has a fragrance that can create a romantic atmosphere. This floral fragrance is widely used as a perfume-making mixture to present a sexy fragrance.
2. Lavender
Lavender flowers are usually used as the main ingredient in feminine and calm perfumes. They are also often used as essential oils for diffusers because of their soothing fragrance.
3. Jasmine
Jasmine flowers have a gentle and soothing fragrance. They are always used as a base for perfume in making fragrances with the theme of tenderness and youth. Like lavender, they are also often used as essential oils.
4. Mint leaves
This leaf doesn’t have a distinctive smell. However, these leaves’ cold sensation is usually used to provide a cool sensation on the user’s skin. Mint leaves are also often used as an essential oil. This fresh mint aroma can reduce headaches and flu after being applied to diffusers.
5. Violet
During Queen Victoria’s reign, the popular Violet was one of the flowers that were used as a fragrance in perfume making. It is known to have a sweet floral scent.
Which Flower is Known as The Queen of Fragrance?
Jasmine was appointed as “The King of Perfumes and Fragrances.” On the other hand, the rose was selected as “The Queen of Fragrance.” Roses are an essential ingredient of many floral perfumes that people often wear. Roses, usually when making perfume, are be harvested at night. It is because the resulting aroma of the flowers will be more intense before the sun rises.
How to Care for Aglaia Odorata?
Besides placing, watering, and fertilizing, there are other things we need to do in maintaining the Aglaia Odorata tree. Nowadays, most of Aglaia Odorata is used as an ornamental bonsai plant. Therefore, several treatments must be done to keep the Aglaia Odorata tree beautiful.
When we care for ornamental bonsai plants, the surrounding bonsai is overgrown with nesting weeds. Their existence disturbs the bonsai. They will fight to eat nutrients from the soil. Therefore, they need for weeding maintenance. Remove useless grass or weeds as early as possible. To keep the growth of weeds around the Aglaia Odorata plant, you can put green moss.
After weeding, you need to also need to trim the trunk, branches, twigs, and leaves of the bonsai to maintain the bonsai’s quality and shape. Pruning is done to form a bonsai according to the shape you want and conditions of your bonsai. Pruning can be done once a month if the bonsai is growing rapidly. But if the growth is slow, you just do it every two or three months.
Nutrients in the soil are not always able to nourish your bonsai plants. Soil that is left too long can bring many diseases to your plants. Therefore, the planting medium on Aglaia Odorata plants needs to be replaced at least once a year. This technique is commonly called repotting.
When repotting, you have to clean the roots that creep out of the pot. This part of the roots needs to be removed because it doesn’t absorb the soil’s nutrients. Bonsai root growth is an indicator of a healthy plant, but if the root growth is excessive and allowed, then the bonsai can be tortured and die. Remove the plant from the pot, clean the roots from the soil, and remove the pot’s roots. Then place it back into the new planting medium.
Chinese Perfume Plant Indoor Care
When you don’t have enough places to put Chinese perfume plants in the garden, you can plant them indoors. However, make sure they are placed in a sunny place, such as a window, because plants need sunlight to grow properly. Watering is done once a day to make sure the soil is not dry. However, watering should not be done until the water stagnates.
