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Dior, Lush, Bulgari and Guerlain all get jasmine for their perfumes from this Indian city, where the flowers have been grown for millennia

  • In Madurai, India, women pluck ‘lush, rich, vibrant’ white jasmine buds for processing into oil used by some of the world’s top perfume houses
  • The rich, sweet fragrance of the flower pervades city dwellers’ homes – and shrines to the Hindu goddess Meenakshi, considered the guardian of Madurai

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Raja Palaniswamy, a director at Jasmine Concrete, smells jasmine flowers at his factory in Madurai, India, a source of jasmine oil used by some of the world’s top perfumers. Photo: AFP

Heady scents fill the air as skilled pickers in India pluck white jasmine before the still fresh buds are rushed for processing into a valuable ingredient for global perfumes.

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Jasmine only issues its powerful scent when it blooms at night, and pickers must select only the ones yet to open.

“We know which one to pick,” says Malarkodi, who gave only one name, as she snapped her fingers carefully to pluck the buds, tucking into her hair a few flowers that had already bloomed.

“There is no use of these … but I like the smell,” she says.

A farmer pours jasmine flowers in a sack after harvesting from farmland on the outskirts of Madurai in India. Photo: AFP
A farmer pours jasmine flowers in a sack after harvesting from farmland on the outskirts of Madurai in India. Photo: AFP

Jasmine’s fragrant flowers have been used for millennia in India to honour the gods, and the scent is a key part of world-famous perfumes.

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