The empress of the perfumer’s palette, jasmine must be harvested before the rising sun to retain the full force of its delicate fragrance. Fragile and fleeting, jasmine is a fair nymph of a flower with a potent perfume. A world without jasmine? Simply unimaginable. -DB.

Perfumers owe a debt to the civet cat, the musk deer, the beaver, and the sperm whale. Their secretions are pervasive, repugnant, but in the company of flowers, erotic. To achieve their superb fixative qualities, modern chemistry replicates these ancient ingredients from the animal kingdom. -DB.

What a shame the lilac flower jealously guards its aroma, refusing to share its magic. Relying on alchemy, a perfumer recalls its impression with a blend. Together, the essences of jasmine, ylang-ylang, neroli, and vanilla plot to mimic the fair lilac flower. –.

The orchid, queen of exoticism, a mute observer slow to reveal the mysteries of her petals. Would that I had such patience, too. -DB.

The rose: though its petals are easily bruised, it blooms with exuberance. What power the rose possesses; the merest hint of a blossom conjures the deepest memory. At dawn, roses must be picked quickly, for they lose half their essence – the perfumer’s treasure – by the high sun of noon. – DB.

The gardenia is an enigma, its petals dusted with the creamy white purity of innocence, but its aroma is wildly seductive. How appropriate; for in the language of flowers, the gift of gardenias conveys the message of secret love. – DB.

Non capisci una fava."Celina lifted her chin to him. "Tu sei una fava," she shot back. He was the one who didn't know anything.

The empress of the perfumer's palette, jasmine must be harvested before the rising sun to retain the full force of its delicate fragrance. Fragile and fleeting, jasmine is a fair nymph of a flower with a potent perfume. A world without jasmine? Simply unimaginable. -DB

In the seventeenth century, Turkish concubines devised a secret method of communication with flowers by attaching a meaning to each blossom or plant. The fascination swept Europe and reached its zenith of popularity in Victorian England. In the language of flowers, the red rose symbolizes love, while the calla lily signifies a magnificent beauty. Together, a stunning marriage to the perfumer. - DB

The stately tuberose is reluctant to share its effusive scent, yielding only to enfleurage- petals pressed into fat between glass, rinsed in alcohol. The carnal charisma of tuberose, one of the perfumer's most expensive essential oils, heightens the white floral bouquet, lifting it up on angels' wings. -DB