Renato Redentor Constantino<\/strong><\/p>\n Chandler Burr dwelled on \u201cthe mystery of smell\u201d in his intriguing 2004 book, <\/span>The Emperor of Scent<\/span><\/i>. \u201cWe understand the human sense of vision,\u201d Burr wrote, \u201cintimately down to exactly which vibration of a particle of light caught in the vision receptor in the retina will make us see exactly which color\u2026 We know hearing in exquisite detail, can predict with absolute accuracy which air vibration in the cochlea will create what tone. But of smell, we do not know, cannot predict.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Scent is a curious notion. And Burr might even agree, as with many details in life, a lot of things become more interesting once you apply a bit of history, even things you\u2019d normally associate with the nose. The experience is easily demonstrated in the case of the flower of <\/span>cananga <\/span><\/i>odorata, a tree most Filipinos know as ylang-ylang. We encounter it often when strung with sampaguita garlands and sold in Metro Manila streets. But not many know the flower very much has links to the revolutionary past of the Philippines.<\/span><\/p>\n It should not be surprising to encounter the 20-foot ylang-ylang tree inside PUP\u2019s main campus. The university is in Sta. Mesa, whose streets in the 19<\/span>th<\/span> century were once lined with ylang-ylang. Back then Sta. Mesa was a big supplier of flower-derived essential oils to some of the world\u2019s largest perfumeries in France.<\/span><\/p>\n Native to the Philippines, the ylang-ylang is \u201ca fast-maturing tree that can [also] be found endogenous in tropical Asian countries.\u201d Iplantz, a botanical database of hundreds of tropical and subtropical plants, describes it as \u201ca fast-growing tree\u201d that, in cultivation, can grow up to 10 to 33 feet tall. \u201cThe flowers are large, made up of six slender petals up to 13 cm long that are green and twisted when young, becoming yellow, limp and drooping when mature. They are borne in profusion, in clusters of four to twelve arising at the leaf bases and come into bloom in the rainy season.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\tTry the Sintang Lakbay\u00a0Ylang Ylang Filter on Instagram!<\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n