Some of the most popular, and in some cases, most expensive, plants and flowers used in perfume are jasmine, sandalwood, vetivert, lavender and rose. Jasmine was first cultivated in France in 1548, a spoil brought to Provence from eastern trade expeditions (more on that in a few weeks). Although French jasmine is still considered the best, today, it is harder and harder to find, as the fields of Grasse have given way to a more lucrative agricultural product: condominiums. Labor costs have also caused a shift in production, as jasmine is extremely labor intensive. Each bloom must be picked by hand, and the time in which the blooms are picked is crucial. Because jasmine is a night-blooming plant, its volatile "esters" (its odors) evaporate in sunlight, so picking is done very early—around 5 a.m. With cheaper labor and cheaper real estate, Egypt has now taken the lead as the world's jasmine essence producer; it produces 80% of the world's jasmine, with India making up the rest, and France just a nominal fraction. (Well, I guess that rules out jasmine-picking as a profession for Jolique! Not even the sweetest-smelling jasmine petal will rouse Jolique from her delicate slumber!)

Another expensive product is sandalwood. One of India's earliest exports, sandalwood comes from an evergreen tree whose Latin name is Santalum album. The wood is a hemiparasite, meaning it gains most of its nutrients using octopus-like suckers similar to those of ivy. The essential oil garnered from this plant is neither easy, nor inexpensive, to obtain, since the oil appears only in plants more than 25 years old. The oil is found in the heartwood (the wood at the tree's center) of the plant, and the headiness of this oil is what makes the heartwood impervious to termites. The outer wood, however, is a tasty treat for termites. Because getting to the scented heartwood can be difficult, loggers take advantage of the termite appetite, allowing them to consume the outer wood, leaving the heartwood behind.

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