Capé Oil

#### Capé Oil. Although hardly available except upon demand well in advance, the oil of **Popowia Capea**** **deserves some attention. It represents one of the many results of the botanical research expeditions which were sponsored by some of the larger Grasse perfume raw material houses long ago. More recently, the well-known French botanist, author, engineer, and coffee-expert, R.-L. Joly, has explored the West African area for the purpose of finding new perfume plants. But even his visits and reports did not seem to call **Capé Oil **to life. The plant is a semi-climbing vine which grows wild in the jungles of Guinea and the Ivory Coast, formerly French West Africa (A. 0. F.) The leaves are extremely fragrant, and the natives use them to perfume their baths and to scent their vegetable oils. **Capé**** ****Oil**** **is an olive-green liquid of strong, woody-floral and deep-sweet odor with a somewhat minty-sharp topnote. The tenacity is excellent and this oil would blend well with Oriental and woody-herbaceous bases, floral bases, hyacinth, lilac, ylang-ylang, etc. Very little is known about the constituents of the oil. The plant belongs to the same family as do the ylang-ylang, but its flowers are not particularly fragrant. The best method of production of this oil is by steam distillation of the leaves, after which the condensate is collected in a hydrocarbon solvent (see also **Manevoro Oil**). The heavier fractions of the oil contain cinnamic alcohol and esters of this alcohol. These are not only heavier than water but also slightly soluble in the distillation waters. The difficulties encountered in the collection of the leaves in the jungle and the complicated distillation make the production of this oil unrewarding unless there is a strong demand for it. The plant has not been found elsewhere.