COCONUT ORCHID

Coconut orchid takes its name from a real flower with a recognisable coconut scent. Maxillaria tenuifolia, also known as Maxillariella tenuifolia, is the botanical reference: both the Royal Horticultural Society and the American Orchid Society describe its flowers as coconut-scented. The interest lies in that unexpected meeting of a flower and a familiar tropical food aroma, rather than in a generic idea of how all orchids smell.

The species comes from Mexico and Central America and grows as an epiphyte, using trees as a support. Its flowers are usually red, though yellow forms occur. In a perfume note list, coconut orchid names an olfactory inspiration; it does not establish the use of an orchid extract. The finished composition may interpret that coconut-flower association freely, so its sweetness and intensity depend on the surrounding notes.