Credited to Comoros. The tree was introduced from the Philippines and commercial distillation began under French colonial planters; the Comoros is the leading producer, not the place of invention.
How it began
Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata) is a tropical tree native to the Philippines, where its flowers were first distilled, in Manila, around 1860. The tree was later planted on islands of the western Indian Ocean. Parisian perfumers took up the oil at the start of the 20th century, and it became a lucrative crop for the Comoros. Production is concentrated on the island of Anjouan. The names of the first Comorian distillers are not recorded in the sources consulted.
How it works
The yellow blossoms are picked every morning and distilled the same day to keep the scent fresh. The method is steam distillation.
The distillation can be run in two ways. Run continuously, it gives a single "complete" oil. Run in fractions, it gives graded oils collected in sequence: "extra" first, then "first", "second" and "third". The extra fraction comes off during roughly the first hour and is the lightest. Most Comorian stills are fired with wood.
What lasted
Ylang-ylang, vanilla and cloves make up a large part of the agricultural output of the Comoros, which accounts for about a third of GDP. The country has around 10,000 ylang-ylang producers, most of them on Anjouan.
The craft has an environmental cost. Wood is the cheapest fuel, and about 250 kilograms are needed to produce one liter of oil. Together with clearing for farmland, this has contributed to heavy deforestation on Anjouan. The environment minister has said the country lost 80 percent of its natural forests between 1995 and 2014, and an environmental group reports that rivers flowing year-round have fallen from 50 in 1925 to fewer than 10.
Where it stands today
The Comoros is reported to supply around 70 percent of the world's ylang-ylang oil and ranks with Madagascar and Mayotte among the top producers. Distillers are under pressure to cut wood use. Some have moved to stainless steel alembics with improved ovens, which one grower says halved his consumption, and some grow their own fuel wood. Alternatives are costly: electricity would cost roughly ten times more and supply is unreliable. A large distillery opened on Anjouan in 2014 with ten stainless steel stills, and NGOs such as Dahari pay farmers to replant or rest their land.
