Cananga Essential Oil CAS 68606-83-7

The true Cananga Oil of today is the total essential oil, water-distilled from the flowers of Cananga Odorata (forma macrophylla) in the northern and western parts of Java (Indonesia). There are several qualities of Java Cananga Oil, but they are all distilled by the so-called directfire method (flowers in water, fire under the pot, and no heating jacket). This method is used for a great part of the ylang-ylang oil production in Nossi-Bé and in the Comoro Islands, but not in Réunion (see Ylang-Ylang Oil). Although cananga oil is essentially a “complete oil’, the yield obtained in Java is considerably poorer than the yields of ylang-ylang oil (same tree) in the Comores, Nossi-Bé, etc. This is due to a very primitive distillation, and to poorly selected flower material; it is also partly due to the fact that the cananga flowers are crushed when packed in the still, while ylang-ylang flowers are not. The flower is extremely delicate, and easily loses its fragrance when damaged.

Java cananga oil is a yellow to orange-yellow or slightly greenish-yellow, somewhat viscous liquid of sweet-floral, balsamic and tenacious odor. The initial notes are woody-leathery with a fresh-floral undertone, a characteristic combination. The odor type is much “heavier” than that of ylang-ylang and it is also more tenacious than the first and second grades of that oil.

Arctander, Steffen . Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin (p. 141)