ABSTRACT
The interest shown in growing scented-leaf geranium dates from the mid nineteenth century. At that time, the real ‘Rose of the Levant’, Rosa damascena Mill. (Rosaceae), became rare and its essential oil reached excessive levels of price in Paris (Héricart De Thury, 1845). This situation forced the perfumers to look for new essential oils with a rose scent and they remembered the distillation trials of rose geranium carried out by Rochez in Lyon (France) in 1819. In 1844, Demarson established the first plantations in the sunshine of Provence, near Grasse (France).
