Fans of the Twilight series might recall Edward telling Bella “You have a very floral smell, like lavender … or freesia”. He is referring to a sweet scented flower which has been put to profitable use by the cosmetics industry. It features heavily in Armani’s Acqua di Gio and Lancome’s Miracle.
16 species of freesia originally grew in southern Africa. Unusually, the flower takes its name from a person who had nothing to do with its discovery. In 1866 the Danish botanist Christian Ecklon, who in his lifetime named a remarkable 1,974 plant species, named this one after his friend Friedrich Freese. Soon after, in the late 1870s the vivid, multi-coloured flowers became popular with traders and they soon began to decorate the world.
