Some paintings in Egyptian tombs depict ladies of the pharaoh's court wearing unguent cones on their foreheads. Recipes for making these scented cones have been translated from surviving scrolls. In most cases, pounded or chopped petals were mixed with ox fat. The perfume industry guards its secrets jealously because they are so lucrative. This makes it harder for science writers to piece together a natural history of flower scents.
Scientists do know, however, that fragrant chemicals make up only a fraction of a live flower.
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