Native Flowers and their Sweet Scents🌷

THE GARDENIA

The gardenia (rosal) is a bush that grows to a height of not more than six feet. It bears dark, lust,roots, thick, green leaves about four inches long with short points at the free ends. It is a native of China but now,it is grown widely in the Philippines. The flowers of this plant are waxy white, single or double-petaled and fragrant.

In our country where the climate is warm. the gardenia is not hard to cultivate. This plant likes plenty of sunshine and rain. It grows by cuttings, which may be planted directly in the soil or allowed to grow roots in a bottle of water.

THE CAMIA

Some people call camia the "white ginger plant." Do you know why it is given that name? If you look into the roots of a camia plant. You will see that it has tuberous root stocks very much like the ginger which is very useful for seasoning food. It may be interesting to know that the ginger and the camia belong to one plant family called the camia family.

The carma is known to children as the butterfly flower because its flower looks Like a big, white butterfly. The flower of this plants, comes in clusters with big petals and yellow centers. One variety of this plant has cream-colored petals and bright yellow centers but this variety is less known and quite rare.

The Fragrance of Camia is unique and vert easily distinguish from the scents of other flowers.

THE ILANG-ILANG

Unlike the other sweet-scented flowers previously described, the ilang-ilang grows on a tree if medium Size. It has drooping branches. This plant grows extensively in Luzon, Mindoro, Bohol and in some parts of Mindanao.

The flowers of the ilang-ilang are very fragrant. They are greenish-yellow and have long, narrow, drooping petals, two to three inches long. With sampaguita blossoms, the flowers of this plant are made into leis and peddled in the streets of Manila and nearby towns.

THE MILLEGUAS

The flowers of the milleguas, like the sampaguita and the ilang-ilang, are strung into garlands.

This flower is loved by many for its sweet odor which can be smelled even at a distance, as it name suggests. Mil (a Spanish word) means thousand and leguas another Spanish word) means leagues. So, milleguas means a thousand leagues.

The milleguas is a vine with heart-shape opposite to each other. It has small yellowish-green clusters. Each flower has a corolla tube with five sepals.