Orchids: Patisserie Scented Flowers
- kamikarmiya
- Jul 12, 2024
- 17 min read
One of the bizarrely best-kept secrets of the orchid world is how incredibly fragrant most orchids can be. The generic white Phalaenopsis sold at grocery stores and garden centres has long had that trait bred out of it through mass hybridisation, but most species orchids, and many hybrids sold at speciality nurseries, have incredible fragrances. In particular, many orchids have dessert-like fragrances. Vanilla, almond, chocolate, fruit... Orchids can have many mouth-watering fragrances while in bloom!
While telling my best friend about this, they said that a goal would be to have a house full of flowers that make it smell like a bakery, and I joked that I should write about that. And...hey, why not? There are articles about orchid fragrances, but I find that most orchid growers are uniquely terrible at describing fragrance. I might just scream the next time I see someone say a flower smells like 'baby powder' or 'sunscreen'. Neither is appealing at all, or accurate.
So, for those looking for orchids which will put them in mind of dessert and make their house smell like a patisserie, here is a (very incomplete) list of dessert-themed orchids!
Vanilla
First of all, of course, is vanilla. The vanilla bean is actually the seed pod of an orchid: ones from the Vanilla genus, naturally.
The most commonly-used is the Vanilla planifolia, which produces beautiful green flowers with a yellowish lip. Naturally, the flowers do smell like vanilla, though people say it isn't necessarily a strong scent to the human nose. This isn't the best orchid for home-growers, however, for two major reasons. The first is that it is a very large vine plant, which can grow all the way up a tree; very hard to accommodate in home conditions. The second is that the flowers are shockingly short-lived: they open in the morning and will close the afternoon or evening of the same day (which explains a lot about why vanilla beans are so expensive!). Given that many orchids can be in bloom for at least a month, even two or three, this is a staggeringly short-lived flower. If you aren't growing it for the seed pods, I'm not sure it's worth it (unless you enjoy the novelty of having a real vanilla plant in your home/garden!).
However, never fear; many other orchids have vanilla fragrances. Vanillin is largely present in the fragrances of orchid flowers, though not exclusively so. A few other plants even produce seed pods which can be used like vanilla.
For home plants, some of the most popular which smell of vanilla are:
Cattleya dowiana
Cattleyas were once used for corsages, owing to their extremely frilly, showy flowers. They are usually fragrant, and this one is most often described as smelling of vanilla, rather than a traditional floral scent. Please note that this is a species orchid which is on the pricier side, though I have seen Ecuagenera selling it for $60. For orchids, that's not terrible at all- presuming you don't kill the orchid, it can live essentially indefinitely, making it a long-term investment.
Oncidium sotoanum
This is a species orchid which grows in South America, and produces long cascades of small purple flowers which look almost like trails of wisteria. Most people say they smell strongly of vanilla, perhaps with a spicy or even vaguely chocolate-y vibe underneath. As a species orchid, this only blooms once a year, but there are hybrids which bloom more often...
This is a child of the sotoanum, with the other parent being Oncidium cheirophorum. The cross produces a miniature plant which creates long spikes of tiny, blossom-like flowers which most people say smell to them of either vanilla, sugar, syrup, or even sugar cookies. It has many cultivars, coming in hot pink (Pink Profusion), white (Fragrance Fantasy), gold and red, just to name a few. Unfortunately, the soft pink varieties seem to be very uncommon in North America, which is a shame as I think they're the most beautiful. However, all of them are very cute, and small enough for anyone to be able to find a spot for them in their homes! This orchid can produce flowers twice a year, usually starting to spike in spring and autumn (meaning winter and summer blooms, since their spikes take quite a while to develop). Individual flowers only last a few weeks, but their buds are profuse enough that the full blooming period could easily be two or more months.
This is a back-cross of the Twinkle and the cheirophorum. The flowers are nearly identical to the Twinkle, usually yellow but also coming in other colour forms. I mostly hear it smells like vanilla (or just 'sweet'), but a few people have said that their individuals smell like chocolate.
This is produced by crossing the Twinkle back with the sotoanum, and produces a slightly larger plant (more in the small-medium range, rather than miniature) with cream to pink coloured flowers (some call them 'champagne') which smell strongly of vanilla. The nursery I purchased mine from said that it smells 'just like a vanilla cupcake', which immediately sold me! There are some Asian cultivars, such as the Chian-Tzy varieties, which have very beautiful soft pink flowers, but they show up very rarely elsewhere. Nowadays, the nurseries which claim a vanilla fragrance are all producing their stock through mericloning, meaning that the fragrance should hopefully be consistent; more on that in a bit.
This is a much larger oncidium orchid which produces white flowers with speckles, and most people say it smells strongly of vanilla to them; very cake-like! 'Snowflake' is a specific cultivar name; for the best chance of getting an orchid which matches the reported fragrance as what you've heard about, I would recommend searching for the same cultivar.
There are more orchids which are said to smell of vanilla, and I hope to add more as I come across descriptions of them, but for now, let's move on to the mention I gave of some smelling like chocolate. Orchid flowers can, indeed, smell like chocolate!
Chocolate
Numerous studies have been done on the fragrance compounds which result in the tantalising scent of chocolate (especially melting chocolate), but not much on the flowers which can resemble chocolate to the human nose. All we can do is sniff them and say, 'oh, that reminds me of chocolate'! There is a famous family of orchids which most people interpret as smelling like chocolate- specifically, vanilla chocolate or milk chocolate (which makes sense, since milk chocolate is flavoured heavily with vanilla).
This is the most famous, commonly known just as 'the chocolate orchid'. In fact, it is so popular and ubiquitous that trying to do online searches for 'orchids which smell like chocolate' will produce almost nothing but the Sharry Baby. Most people say that it smells like chocolate to them- milk chocolate, or vanilla and chocolate, as stated above. Some people don't get the chocolate, though, and simply detect vanilla, but they seem to be in the minority. This orchid comes in multiple cultivars, the most common being the 'Sweet Fragrance' which was awarded by the American Orchid Society. You also see the 'Red Fantasy' with red petals and a pink lip quite often, and slightly more rare is the 'Ruby Doll', which has deep red petals. The main downside to this orchid is size; the plant itself can produce extremely large bulbs and long leaves, and the flower spikes are known to grow to up to 2m (6ft for the yanks). They really can be as long as a person is tall- and not a short person, either! I personally ruled this orchid out due to its size, despite how tempting chocolate-scented flowers were; I just know that I would not enjoy handling a plant that large.
This is a relative of the Sharry Baby, meant to be a more compact version of it. Most reports are that it has the same fragrance, but with a shorter flower spike with more tightly-spaced flowers. I've still seen it get relatively tall, though, so I'm not sure that it's truly the answer to those of us who don't want large orchids. This has two cultivars I know of: the 'Sweet Baby', which is quite large, and the 'Redolence' which tends to be a smaller plant. Feelings on the flower vary; some find it more attractive than the Sharry Baby, while others (myself included) find it a bit dull. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
This is the final (so far?) in the Sharry Baby family. This orchid currently only has one cultivar, the 'Raspberry Chocolate', and boasts deep red flowers which turn a bright raspberry-red when sun is shining through them. They have green tips, and a lip which is hot pink at the top and white at the bottom. Best of all, the flowers bloom on much more upright flower spikes, bunched together like hyacinth to make a gorgeous display. I would hands-down say that this is the most attractive of the family. A lot of people read the name as A.K.A, but I believe that it is meant to be 'Aka' as in the Japanese word for red, which matches the flowers (also the name is not written with fullstops or in all-caps to indicate that it's an abbreviation, so there you are). However, it's just as much of a beast as the Sharry Baby, with giant bulbs and leaves, and very long flower spikes. You need a lot of space for this plant! But if you're able to provide that and the flowers of the other hybrids don't spark joy, this may be more to your liking; the flowers are very bright and striking.
All of these orchids are descended from the Oncidium sotoanum, and it's possible that some other hybrids which share that ancestry also have chocolate vibes to their fragrance and just get talked about less (the Sharry Baby tends to take over a room!). One is...
Oncidium Pacific Sunrise Hakalau
This is a relative which some do say smells like chocolate. It has flowers that range from creamy brown to mauve to pink, and is not a small plant but definitely not as big as the Sharry Baby family. The fragrance reports aren't quite as consistent, though, but if you find the flowers more appealing, it's worth checking out!
Something to consider when it comes to orchid size: nurseries tend to sell plants as soon as they reach blooming size (and may even have their first flower spikes developing), so new plants you see photos of online are not always representative of how large the plant can finally become. Many pictures would lead you to believe that Sharry Baby and her relatives are only medium-sized, only to then stumble upon a mature specimen which is large enough to require its own room in the house!
Fragrance variations can result when a hybrid (or species) is grown from seed, rather than mericlone. Seed orchids will have genetic variation, and some may smell stronger or weaker, or have an entirely different fragrance altogether. Usually, with a popular hybrid, a nursery will settle on mericloning (from stem tissue culture) an individual which has the most desirable fragrance and flowers. The Sharry Baby and its relatives are produced by mericloning, as are the Twinkles and Tsiku Marguerites. With that last orchid, in particular, early reports on fragrance were very varied; it's a newer hybrid, and I suspect that some people had seed-grown individuals which didn't smell of vanilla (I heard 'baby powder' and 'floral' a lot). Nowadays, most nurseries say their stock smells like vanilla, and as they're all produced by mericloning now, any orchid you buy should smell the same. Species and more uncommon hybrids are more likely to be grown by seed and have natural variation between individuals.
Some more orchids which are said to smell of chocolate (and be more manageable than the Sharry Baby family!) are:
Encyclia phoenicea
I have read that this smells of chocolate and vanilla, and it is even called the 'Cuban Chocolate Orchid'. However, its scent seems to be quite complicated, and may not be interpreted as chocolate-like.
Ade Andriyani on Youtube has described hers variably as smelling of vanilla and tropical fruit, for example. I did, however, find a blog post confirming a chocolate fragrance. Our noses all vary, I guess?
Encycia pyriformis
Also said to smell like chocolate! As I discuss a few entries down, I have an Encyclia cordigera and have found it to be a very robust orchid, and on the more compact size (medium, not large). So I definitely recommend Encyclia orchids to home growers, so long as you have grow lights to supplement if your home doesn't get very bright sunlight.
Enanthlaya Middleburg 'Maj'
This is a hybrid with the Encyclia phoenicea as one parent, and is said to inherit its chocolate fragrance.
Cattleya loddigesii
This is, sadly, a fairly expensive species Cattleya, but I was surprised to see many reports of it smelling of either milk chocolate or white chocolate!
Stanhopea tigrina
I have also read that this one smells of chocolate and vanilla. However, please note that Stanhopea flowers are very short-lived; many species have flowers which only last about 3 days.
Miss Orchid Girl says that hers smells like chocolate- very similar to the Sharry Baby, but much more faint. It has very attractive spotted purple flowers, too! Unfortunately, it's a less common hybrid, and some people say theirs has no fragrance at all. But it does have 25% sotoanum in its parentage, so it's very likely that individuals which are fragrant will smell of vanilla or chocolate! It's a shame that it's so uncommon, since it has lovely flowers.
Encyclia cordigera
This is an orchid from South America (what a shock), which some people say smells like dark chocolate and roses to them. Miss Orchid Girl in particular says that, and many agree with her and say their individuals smell the same. However, others don't detect it at all. I have two theories about this, though I can't test them. One is that fragrance may vary by colour form: the cordigera comes in multiple varieties. Some have white lips, others bright hot pink to purple, others a very soft pink with purple veining, and some are alba, meaning they have no red pigment and produce green flowers instead. Miss Orchid Girl's cocoa-scented cordigera has the soft pink lip, and some people I've seen who don't detect that scent have the hot pink lip; it's possible that this cultivar difference is the reason for the fragrance discrepancy. The hot pink to purple lip is regarded as the 'best' colour form by nurseries, which I personally consider a shame as I favour the soft pink, which I think contrasts with the dark petals beautifully (I also am a lover of pink). This blog post doesn't mention a chocolate fragrance, but does discuss fragrance differences in their different varieties. This orchid is very vigorous, having large psuedobulbs to retain moisture and nutrients and succulent-like leaves which don't lose water to the air easily. My individual arrived to me with no roots and has suffered many indignities since then, and is still kicking; I almost think you'd have to just throw it in a fire to kill it! When it finally recovers enough to bloom, I will report back on fragrance.
My other theory regarding the fragrance is this: many people have not spent very much time eating dark chocolate, especially single-origin chocolate. Ann Rearden describes it very well in an episode of How to Cook That, but essentially, mass produced chocolate uses a wide variety of beans from different origins and of different qualities, and will then process the chocolate for longer in order to even out the flavour. This has the negative side effect of removing most of the more detailed flavour notes in the cocoa beans, which means that the chocolate is heavily flavoured with vanilla to compensate. Depending on variety, fermentation length, and growing location, cocoa beans can have flavours ranging from fruity to floral to nutty, and some have the more classic 'fudge' or 'cocoa liqueur' flavour profile (I believe Ghana and Uganda beans in particular have the most classic flavour). If someone has mostly eaten milk chocolate and not this sort of intense, single-origin dark chocolate which retains those more complex flavour profiles, they may simply not associate a more 'floral' cocoa fragrance as being chocolate, while others may. I highly recommend that you check out your local organic grocery store to see if they have any single-origin chocolate bars; it's really interesting to see how much more complex the flavours are! Eating a block of regular milk chocolate and then a single-origin dark chocolate really highlights how much of milk chocolate's flavour is vanilla; I did this recently and was quite shocked by the difference!
This orchid is very uncommon- not that you can't buy it, but that people very rarely discuss it online. Matthew of Hello Plant Lovers on Youtube has one, and says that to him it smells like spiced chocolate; a sort of 'Oriental' blend of spices mixed with chocolate. I can't guarantee this, but he has described the fragrance so beautifully that I was terribly tempted to get one myself and find out, even though it's a bit on the big end of orchids for me! I did find a fragrance breakdown of it, but without knowing which of these hundreds of compounds are the most active, it's hard to guess at what the actual fragrance is, so we'll all have to either trust in Matthew's nose or find out ourselves!
All orchids I've heard about which are said to smell of chocolate come from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, which is where the cacao tree comes from. I have to wonder if this is a coincidence, or if some orchids produce vaguely similar scents to attract pollinators? This doesn't seem to have been studied, which is a huge shame. I did look into it and read that the cacao tree produces flowers which have a mixed citrus, floral and cocoa fragrance, which sounds lovely!
Almond
Moving to another patisserie scent, there are also orchids said to smell of almonds. The most famous of these is:
This is a species orchid which is very frequently said to smell of almonds, bitter almonds, or even marzipan. The reports are common enough that I'd say it's quite reliable. One thing to note is that, unlike the majority of orchids on this list, this is a terrestrial orchid. If, like me, you exclusively grow epiphytic orchids, this might be a turn-off; or, if you're more comfortable caring for traditional houseplants, might make it easier!
Cattleya intermedia
This is a species cattleya orchid which produces a fragrance commonly described as a mixture of rose and almonds.
Honey
Many orchids are said to have honey-like fragrances. It can be very hard to get accurate reports on fragrance (given that it varies by plant and also by human nose, along with many people being bad at describing fragrances), but I'll try my best.
Vandopirea Little One
Thanks to the rather-unwanted reclassification that taxonomists are doing, this is probably now 'Phalaenopsis Little One', but people very commonly use the old name. This orchid is very commonly said to smell of either honey, or honey and lemon.
Dendrobium kingianum
This Australian dendrobium is said to have a fragrance of either honey, or honey mixed with florals. It comes in both a fairly large and a dwarf variety.
Dendrobium Berry Oda
This is a primary hybrid of the kingianum which has the same fragrance, and is said to be easier to grow- in particular, it is less fussy about the winter rest required by dendrobiums of this type in order to bloom in spring.
Maxillaria picta
This orchid with a rambling growth habit best-suited to baskets is said to smell just like honey.
Encyclia tampensis
This orchid is said to produce a very honey-like fragrance. It's also the most common species from the genus available from nurseries!
Cinnamon
Another important ingredient in a bakery, cinnamon, too, can be present in many orchid fragrances. Orchids do often produce cinnamon compounds, as you can see in fragrance breakdowns of flowers. The question is more how present they are, and in some they are very present indeed.
Cattleya walkeriana
This orchid is known for smelling of vanilla and cinnamon, which sounds delightful and very much like a patisserie!
Lycaste aromatica
Another orchid from South America which is known for smelling of cinnamon. Clearly, the continent which produces some of the best-scented orchids!
RLC Susan Fender 'Cinnamon Stick'
This is a Cattleya hybrid; the RLC abbreviation refers to the two orchids which produced this hybrid. Rhyncholaeliocattleya, basically, or Rhyncholaelia crossed with Cattleya. It has a stunning red flower with massive frills, and smells of cinnamon.
This is a Catasetum-type orchid which goes into full dormancy for winter, which makes it a bit trickier to care for than most orchids. But they're very beautiful and unique plants, and apparently this one in particular smells like cinnamon!
Phalaenopsis violacea
This is a summer-blooming phalaenopsis which produces a smaller number of highly fragrant flowers all throughout the summer. The violacea is most known for smelling of cinnamon (but sweetly so), or cinnamon mixed with florals.
Coconut
What delicious, dessert-themed orchid collection would be complete without some coconut, perhaps to complement the chocolate? One orchid in particular is famous for smelling like coconut:
Maxillaria tenuifolia
This orchid is famous as 'the coconut orchid', and most people detect its fragrance as being like coconut. Some people do say it smells more like some other tropical fruit to them, or even peaches, but most say coconut (or a pina colada, yum). It is a beautiful plant even when not in bloom, with strange bulbs that grow one on top of the other and very long, wispy leaves which look like tall grass. Like the Sharry Baby, this orchid is so ubiquitous that searching for 'orchids which smell like coconut' will yield nothing but the tenuifolia, even though I'm sure I've heard of others having this sort of fragrance.
Encyclia alata
This is one which has very varied reports, so don't bet on it smelling like coconut. Some say it smells like coconut and vanilla, others say it smells like honey. Being from the same genus as the sturdy Encyclia cordigera, I would hope that it's a very hardy orchid, and worth taking a risk on for the beautiful flowers alone!
Fruit
Other fruity scents are reported in orchids beyond coconut. No individual fruit scent is common enough to warrant its own section, so I'll place them all here. I'll also note that many orchids have lemon/citrus scented flowers. However, many smell of citrus flowers or pure sharp lemon- we're looking specifically for more dessert-like fragrances. On that note...
This is a miniature to small Japanese orchid which blooms once a year in spring or summer and is widely said to smell of lemons- specifically, a very sweet lemony fragrance reminiscent of dessert (perhaps a lemon tart?). I actually have one which has yet to bloom, and will update when it does to report on its fragrance.
Aerides houlletiana
Aerides are more compact vandaceous orchids than the typical giant Vandas you see hanging from baskets, making them more suitable for home growers. This one is known for having a sweet fragrance reminiscent of lemon dessert or even Fruit Loops (according to Orchid Web). Miss Orchid Girl, meanwhile, says it smells just like lemonade to her.
Potinara Hawaiian Charisma 'Hawaii'
This is a complex Cattleya-type intergeneric which apparently smells like lemon sorbet! It is, according to reports, a very vigorous grower and frequent bloomer.
RLC Prada Green Deluxe
This is a green-flowered Cattleya which apparently smells strongly of lime.
Dendrobium parishii
Commonly known as 'the raspberry orchid', you can guess what this smells like! Many reports are that the fragrance is fairly complex, moving through citrus to raspberry to strawberry to rhubarb, but it certainly is known for smelling very fruity.
Dendrobium anosmum
Most reports are that this orchid smells very similar, even identical, to the parishii. Both are pendant, deciduous dendrobiums which will lose their leaves in winter and bloom in spring from the older, leafless canes.
Phalaenopsis bellina
Another summer blooming phalaenopsis which boasts green flowers with either hot pink or purple accents, this is a much more interesting option than your typical grocery store phal! Bellina is often said to have a very fruity fragrance reminiscent of tropical fruits.
Phalaenopsis Sweet Memory Liodoro
This is a bellina hybrid which also smells fruity and sweet; Miss Orchid Girl says hers smells almost like Skittles (but much higher quality). As a hybrid, it produces more flowers at once than a bellina, which is a bonus!
Dendrobium Fairy Moon Sweetie
I have heard that this nobile-type has a fragrance reminiscent of tropical fruits, rather than the citrus or florals more typical of its relatives.
Epicyclia Serena O'Neill
This is an intergeneric hybrid which boasts the Encyclia cordigera as one of its parents, but these green and pink flowers are said to instead have a scent more reminiscent of passion fruit.
Orchids are an incredibly fragrant family of flowering plants, being one of the two largest families of flowering plants and having over 100,000 hybrids in cultivation, so I'm certain that this list is extremely incomplete. However, I've done my best to compile (and search for more) of all of the sweeter, more dessert-like fragrances I've heard of over the years. I plan on adding more as I hear about them, too, so this article will not be static. If you know of any orchids I've missed, please comment and tell me about them!
Please also note that I have a very small orchid collection (I treat orchids more like housepets and prefer to care for only a tiny number), and have not experienced most of these fragrances in person. By and large I am just compiling what I've read online or heard people say in their videos on their orchid collections, since I've seen very few comprehensive articles online about orchid fragrance. The plant itself (due to genetic variation or stress) may not always produce the expected fragrance, and humans also have stark differences in how sensitive our noses are- there's a reason only some people are able to go into perfumery! So every person will not detect the scent in exactly the same way, or in every orchid. But this should, hopefully, be a decent guide to some of the orchids which have more gourmand-themed fragrances, for those who would prefer that to more traditional floral scents.
*The images in this post are compiled from various web sources. I have done my best to cite them all by making each image click back to the original source. Only in one or two cases did I have an old photo on my pc which was perfect, but from a now-extant blog post I couldn't source. If I have used your photo without crediting you, please comment and tell me so that I can fix that! And if you would rather I not use your photo, then please comment and I will remove it.
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