- Latin name
- Hedychium coronarium
- Family
- Ginger family (Zingiberaceae)
- Origin
- the scent is created in the laboratory
- Parts used
- flowers (as the reference for the scent)
- Raw materials
- floral-spicy accords
- Extraction
- synthesis
- Olfactory group
- floral, spicy
- Position in the pyramid
- heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- linalool, floral bases, ginger molecules
Ginger flower in perfumery is mainly Hedychium (“ginger lily”), a tropical plant of the ginger family with large white, butterfly-like flowers. It is not the root that smells but the flowers themselves — delicate and spicy at once.
How it smells: fresh, floral and faintly spicy: white petals, a light lemon-ginger shade, honey and tropical humidity. Ginger flower sounds lighter and more floral than ginger root, without its fiery bite.
Hedychium is a relative of common ginger, so a familiar ginger freshness can be sensed in its floral scent. Perfumers combine floral notes with light ginger ones to convey this unusual “spicy flower”.
What it pairs with: with jasmine and tiare — tropical white-floral compositions, with ginger and lemon — a fresh spicy flower, with green tea — Asian lightness, with coconut — island fragrances, with musk — a tender fresh base.
Good to know: the white ginger lily is the national flower of Cuba, where it is called mariposa, “butterfly”; legend has it the flowers were used to pass secret messages.
