The Musk Monkeyflower once so famous for its luminous scent it was simply called The Common Musk arrived in Europe from the American West Coast with sunshine trapped in its petals. Sun-yellow blooms, perched on fuzzy, sticky stalks, brightened meadows and the shoulders of old dirt roads.
Victorian England fell for it. The Monkeyflower’s deep, warm musk became a sensation, migrating from botanical salons to London street hawkers and the windowsills of country cottages. For nearly a century it scented parlors and pavements alike.
Then, as the twentieth century turned, the perfume vanished. Not just cultivated specimens wild populations in North America were reported scentless too. The loss baffled botanists and fueled decades of whispered theories, from earnest science to outright conspiracy, but no satisfactory answer ever emerged.
Interest waned, the houseplant faded from popularity, and the mystery slipped into botanical footnote. Still, the flower endures in pockets of Europe and New Zealand, living quietly in hedgerows
The Musk Monkeyflower once so famous for its luminous scent it was simply called The Common Musk arrived in Europe from the American West Coast with sunshine trapped in its petals. Sun-yellow blooms, perched on fuzzy, sticky stalks, brightened meadows and the shoulders of old dirt roads.
Victorian England fell for it. The Monkeyflower’s deep, warm musk became a sensation, migrating from botanical salons to London street hawkers and the windowsills of country cottages. For nearly a century it scented parlors and pavements alike.
Then, as the twentieth century turned, the perfume vanished. Not just cultivated specimens wild populations in North America were reported scentless too. The loss baffled botanists and fueled decades of whispered theories, from earnest science to outright conspiracy, but no satisfactory answer ever emerged.
Interest waned, the houseplant faded from popularity, and the mystery slipped into botanical footnote. Still, the flower endures in pockets of Europe and New Zealand, living quietly in hedgerows
