February 12, 2004
NATURE
Get a Whiff of This, Valentine: Orchids Are for Lovers
By ANNE RAVER

ERE'S a radical thought. Orchids. They seem to be the juggernaut of
flowers these days. Orchid shows. Orchid thieves. Books and films are
made about them. Perfumers have figured out how to capture their
fragrances. So, instead of giving your loved one a dozen long-stemmed
roses that smell like a refrigerator, why not give him (or her) a
fragrant orchid?

But be aware of the risks. Orchids are suggestive, with their glossy
lips and throats and tongues that can flip an amorous pollinator into
some deep chamber. Some are about as subtle as spike heels or
stockings with garter belts, others demure as a glance. So it is a
good idea to study the face of the orchid, to divine what message you
are sending.

Then there is fragrance. Orchid flowers give off a complex mix of
volatile oils, like the scent of vanilla (you know, of course, that
vanilla comes from the vanilla orchid), cinnamon, chocolate and, for
the junk-food lover, corn chips. While many, like the white
phalaenopsis orchid, which shows up in design magazines, are not
scented, there are 20,000 that are. Some smell fishy, others like
rotten meat. Some are as light as a whiff of lemon, others as heavy as
hyacinths.

And what smells heavenly to one person can turn off another. So, it is
important to know your lover's nose. Otherwise, your Valentine's Day
gift might get tossed into the trash.

If you hit the jackpot with the right look, and the right scent, then
you have just saddled your loved one with the responsibility of owning
a live orchid. Like falling in love with a puppy, adopting an orchid
means someone is going to have to start feeding and watering. Orchids
do not need walking, but they do need sun and humidity and a drop in
temperature at night. A fan is always appreciated. Some might need
grow lights.

"This is how crazy it can get," said Steven Frowine, who was standing
in his basement in New Hartford, Conn. He was holding up a
lady-slipper orchid, or paphilopedilum, called Langley Pride. "It took
me 26 years to get this to bloom again," he said.

The plant was not even fragrant, but it led Mr. Frowine down the
orchid path to the ones that are, like miniature cattleya hybrids. A
fragrant phalaenopsis, Caribbean Sunset, bore little rose-color
flowers with a sweet, rosy fragrance. And though those orchids may
look exotic, many of them are widely available for about $20 to $45 —
a lot less than a dozen long-stemmed red roses on Valentine's Day.

Mr. Frowine is so smitten with fragrant orchids that he is writing a
book about them for Timber Press. His basement is filled with
propagation tanks and stands of plants under grow lights.

So be careful. It can all start with a simple gift on Valentine's Day
and end with your sitting alone on the couch — while your lover is
cooing over the beauties in the cellar.

"And before you know it, you're building a greenhouse," said Jochen
Heydel, a perfumer who lives in Mahwah, N.J. "So put yourself on
alert."

Mr. Heydel, who has made a 40-year career with his nose, brought it
close to a miltonidium — a cross between a miltonia and an oncidium
orchid — which was blooming on his dining room table. Its arching
stems were full of tiny half-inch pink and yellow flowers. He closed
his eyes and sniffed, with extreme concentration.

"To me, it smells like nice fresh spring flowers," he said, his eyes
still closed. "First, I get a green note. Grassy."

Then, after more sniffs: "A little soapy."

And even mo "A rose note. Lily of the valley." He opened his eyes.
"And there's a violet note underneath."

A fragrance comes from the mixture of many chemicals, all with a
different volatility, or evaporation point. "That's what makes it so
interesting," Mr. Heydel said. "Because they are evaporating almost in
parallel."

The most volatile, like citrusy ones, are noticeable on top; the
floral scents, like rose, lily and jasmine, in the middle.

Mr. Heydel, who judges fragrant orchids for the Greater New York
Orchid Society's annual show (which will be at Rockefeller Center from
April 14 to 18), has started to grow fragrant orchids in his sunny
living room. They thrive, without grow lights, in a southwest-facing
window. His plant stand has its own microclimate. It is shrouded with
a clear plastic cloak that he bought at the Home Depot. And the little
fragrant miltonidium must be happy: it has been blooming for three
weeks.

Compare that satisfaction with a dozen long-stemmed roses. "Cut
flowers are dead flowers," Mr. Heydel said. "And they die even faster
if you forget to water. Some people, you give them flowers, a kiss and
a hug, and they put the flowers in a vase and in all their excitement
forget to add water." Those must be some kisses.

So sensitive is Mr. Heydel's nose, he says that people with red hair
smell like buttermilk to him, and people with dark hair have a nuttier
aroma.

Mr. Heydel has spent the last three years creating fragrances for
Symrise, the German company, which has an office in Totowa, N.J. He
loves the smell of apples because he used to pick them when he was a
child in his grandparents' orchard near Leipzig, Germany. "My
grandparents had an old wood stove with a metal plate on top," he
said. "We baked apples on this plate, and that smell I never lost."

Many fragrant orchids have food associations. Sharry Baby, an oncidium
with an inch-and-a-half mahogany flower, smells like chocolate.
Lycaste locusta, which has a green lady-slipperlike flower, smells
like Granny Smith apples. Another orchid, Lycaste aromatica, which is
yellow with dots of red, smells like cinnamon. "Exactly like Red
Hots," Mr. Heydel said.

Some orchids, like Dendrobium kingianum, which has an intense,
hyacinthlike fragrance, may be overwhelming. "It's extremely
powerful," he said. Some people get a headache from it.

Eric Hansen, in his book "Orchid Fever," describes how the judges at
the New York Orchid Show reacted to one scented orchid, the Vanda
dearii. "I put my face near the lush yellow flowers, and my nose was
immediately bathed in a warm scent of vanilla and cinnamon," he
writes. A woman next to him was a bit blunter: "Mm, now that's a
flower that just makes you want to take your clothes off and roll
around on it." A man whispered, "Ah . . . just like a good woman."

A corn chip orchid would probably not have that effect, but you never
know. Of course, some orchids, like the phalaenopsis, are usually not
fragrant, so if you go shopping, use your sniffer or, if the orchid is
still in bud, ask the sales clerk.

J&L Orchids, in Easton, Conn., sells hundreds of orchid varieties,
many of them miniatures and many fragrant. Last week, Marguerite Webb,
one of the three owners, showed some of those that are easy to grow. A
yellow oncidium known as Twinkle Fragrant Fantasy sported hundreds of
little yellow flowers with a spicy, musky scent. "Sometimes it's a
little chocolaty," Ms. Webb said. She also sells a red form of
Twinkle.

Dendrochilum glumaceum had a long feathery white flower that smells
like curry. She also had a pink Dendrobium kingianum, with a bit of
violet on its lip. It was intensely fragrant. "And it's a little
soapy," Ms. Webb said.

If you are interested in more subtle bloomers, you might try a
cymbidium. Maisie Orchids, a nursery in San Gabriel, Calif.,
specializes in fragrant Chinese cymbidiums. Teresa Fung, the owner,
said her favorites include Cymbidium ensifolium, which has a lemony
scent with a touch of jasmine, and C. sinense, which has a light,
sweet scent.

Other orchid species, which are pollinated at night, do not waste
energy sending out any fragrance during the day. So judges put them in
a dark closet until they are ready for sniffing. Usually pollinated by
moths, many night-loving orchids, like angraecums, have long spidery
spurs full of nectar, and a jasminelike fragrance. But during the day,
they do not smell at all. Most of those can be bought for $18 to $25,
but those cloud-forest orchids need a greenhouse.

J&L produced a masdevallia hybrid called Confetti, which has a sweet,
spicy scent. "Like Necco wafers, which remind me of my childhood," Ms.
Webb said. Maxillaria tenufolia, a grassy plant with dark red flowers
among the foliage, smells like coconut.

And Polystachya bella has little parasol-shape flowers that smell like
Lemon Pledge.

By now, you probably have the idea. If you are not up for the risk,
and the responsibility, better stick to the roses. And since it is
Thursday, you had better hurry.