Mexico city, or specifically Frida Kahlo’s Garden is where I encountered magnificent Lantana bushes. This small bush has red and white flowers or sometimes yellow and white ones. When you crush the flowers between your fingers, they give off a scent that is like that of passion fruit. It’s an acidic yet fruity and sulphuric aroma, a bit like a blackcurrant that tastes of sunshine.
— Perfumer Christine Nagel gives travel advice, in Heaven scent: 10 holidays you will remember forever at The Telegraph.
Lantana grows everywhere where I live. My last home was even on Lantana Drive. ???? I have peered at it closely (the tiny multicolored flowers are so cute) but I have never once thought of crushing and sniffing it. Gonna add that to today’s To Do list!
And now you must report back!
I just looked up lantanas, because I didn’t know what they were! Lantana is a house at my graduate university, and until just now, I had no idea it was named after the flowers that are sprinkled all over campus. They don’t smell strongly enough for me to have ever realized that they smell like something besides “plant.” I’ll have to crush some of the flowers the next time I find myself on campus.
Lantana is easy to grow and has pretty flowers. Just be careful, supposedly the leaves and berries are poisonous to most mammals.
I love that Dali’s paintings were authenticated by the smell of the canvases bearing the scents of the plants his wife liked.
That is a great story, true or not!
They certainly have a distinctive and pleasant odor but I hadn’t picked up on the fruity nature. Don’t think I’ve ever crushed the flowers so maybe I’m doing it wrong. I think I’m usually hacking chunks out of a bush that’s in my way or accidentally mowing one.
Do be careful fondling the lantana bushes, though. The fuzzy leaves and stems can cause mild but seriously itchy contact dermatitis and the sap can be photosensitizing. Also, the berries are toxic unless you’re a bird.