Ilang-ilang

MY ilang- ilang tree, which I planted in my garden about 15 years ago, is laden with flowers at this time. It was given to me by my balae ( inlaw) when I expressed a wish to have an ilang- ilang tree, for which I will remember her with affection into the future though she has gone to the other world.

The ilang- ilang is a famous Philippine tree even though the country is not its exclusive home. The Philippines for decades into a century was the best-known source of ilang-ilang oil, used principally as a base of French perfumes (floral scent) and other aromatic products before other sources came into play — Comoros, Réunion Island, Madagascar, and the French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

The scientific names of ilangilang as well as its spelling are two: Cananga odorata ( Hook, Thomas) and Unona odoratissima ( Blanco). The other spelling is ylang- ylang.

It is of course illustrated and described in Augustinian botanist Manuel Blanco’s book on Philippine plants. It is also prominently mentioned in the Espasa Calpe Encyclopedia of Spain and in John Foreman’s The Philippines (1906).

The ilang- ilang tree was described in the 1925 edition of the Espasa Calpe (which had many Philippine personalities and items, both as subjects, contributors and subscribers), by the renowned Filipino botanist Leon Maria Guerrero. Following is my partial translation from the Spanish in which he wrote it:

“A tree of medium height, though there are no lack of examples of forest-size ones, with branches somewhat inclined downwards… leaves oblong. The flowers are very fragrant, small greenish yellow peduncles…. This tree is very much cultivated in Manila and almost all over the Philippine archipelago because of its fragrant flowers (aromaticas)…. The essence of ilang- ilang that comes from the Philippines is the best known of the commercial products made from it in Germany, France and England, etc.”

Ilang-ilang oil is distilled from the fresh flowers by a steam process. Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, great granddaughter of Leon Maria Guerrero, says that he had a steam distiller for ilang-ilang aside from an ilang-ilang tree in his garden. Leon Maria Guerrero in Espasa

Calpe goes on to show figures of ilang-ilang oil exports before World War 1 implying that World War 1 disrupted the industry as he gives no further figures: 1909 - 2,812 kilogram ($87,936); 1910 - 1,870 kg ($58,334); 1,684 kg ($47,404); 1912 - 2,785 kg ($80,879); 1913 - 2,172 kg ($50,309).

John Foreman in ThePhilippine Islands gives the following slightly earlier ilang-ilang oil export figures: 1902 - 3,949 kg and 1903 - 5,942 kg.

This leads one to think that the country acquired competitors in the market when World War 1 interrupted exports from the Philippines. It is only in recent years (about 20) that ilang-ilang cultivation has been seriously undertaken in Tarlac (Anao) with South Korean investors and buyers. More recently, a town in Pangasinan announced it had planted a mountain with ilang- ilang trees for livelihood. Perhaps in this age of a new appreciation for what is natural and environmental rather than synthetic and artificial, ilangilang oil as a commercial product can make a comeback here.

Ilang- ilang is an indigenous tree of the Philippines but found all over Southeast Asia and South Asia, i.e., Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and farther on to China, Africa (Ivory Coast, Comoros), Reunion and the Seychelles as well. It is said to have originated in India where it has its own uses ranging from control of itchiness to asthma and malaria using its flowers. Yet its name is singularly Filipino from Tagalog, meaning “wilderness,” using the reduplicative. It is known all over the world by this name even though other countries have their own names for it and even export its oil. Probably because (and I am guessing), the Philippines was the first known exporter of ilangilang oil to Europe.

The ilang-ilang tree comes from the family of Annonaceae, which is the custard apple family ( caimito). In countries where it grows, ilangilang has many uses. The flowers pounded into a paste are used for treating asthma in Indonesia, the dried flowers to treat malaria and reduce blood pressure. Also in Indonesia it is used for fertility (there are too anti-fertility uses in Indonesia with ilang-ilang), with its flowers strewn on the matrimonial bed to enhance sexual euphoria and reduce sexual anxiety. In India it is used to relieve dandruff and itching; in Tonga and Samoa the bark is used for stomach ailments and as a laxative. And so on from skin diseases to eye problems, fevers, rheumatism depending on the culture involved. Naturally as an aromatic flower, it is used for aromatherapy to treat depression, breathing problems and anxiety.

Indeed, it has its uses. But the most immediate one for us is its presence with its unique, fragrant flowers in rows from branches that bend down, a gift of nature that is also a psychic present. The tree itself is small to medium, likely to grow tall but remain slight. I had to lop off the top of mine as it was bending too much towards shade and it needed sunshine to produce flowers in profusion as it does now. The ilang-ilang tree also produces small olive-like fruits, though my tree has still to produce some.

But the best quality is its indubitable and universal Filipino identity. There may be ilang-ilang trees all over the tropical world but the name ilang-ilang is ours and known to be so because we may have been the first to identify it and globalize it by our early ilang-ilang oil exports.

What’s in a name? In the case of ilang-ilang, everything.