Ylang ylang means “flower of flowers” and was named such because the tree has beautiful, fragrant flowers, from which a powerful essential oil is steam distilled.
The oil is used in hair formulas, to balance female-male energies, to restore peace and positive thoughts, and as an aphrodisiac. It is also used for supporting normal blood pressures, easing minor motion sickness, and contains a host of other health-enhancing properties.
Ylang ylang originates from Madagascar and is being grown on the Young Living farm in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In the Young Living ylang ylang groves, it’s harvest time again, although the main production time for ylang ylang runs from February to May.
During the recent Master Leader Retreat in June, distributors had the opportunity to harvest ylang ylang flowers and plant new trees. They thoroughly enjoyed learning how to correctly harvest the flowers for the greatest yield and highest therapeutic value.
They learned that just as the monsoon rains start to end, the trees load up with water from the rain and put on flowers. The flowers then become very heavily laden with the water, which increases the glucose, or what we call the Brix, in the flower; and that all converts to essential oil, which is very exciting.
Because of the beautiful fragrance, we have ylang ylang trees around our house and have our windows open at night to let in the breeze. On the farm a gentle breeze blows most of the time, and it’s most refreshing. It keeps the air clean and helps to move out the mosquitos during mosquito time.
But at night when it’s cool and that breeze blows in through the windows, the whole house fills with the fragrance of the ylang ylang flower, because the ylang ylang tree produces the most oil in the flowers during the nighttime and early morning, before the heat of the day.
