Florida Water

Florida Water is an American cologne: a citrus scent in the manner of European eau de Cologne, but leaning on sweet orange rather than bergamot, lemon and neroli, with spicy notes such as clove. The New York perfumer Robert I. Murray introduced it in 1808; his firm became Murray & Lanman and later Lanman & Kemp, whose successor says it still follows the original formula. The name points to the legendary Fountain of Youth, said to lie in Florida, and to the flowery character of the scent. In the nineteenth century it was worn by men and women alike, and barbers used it in quantity as cologne and aftershave. Versions have been made in Hong Kong since around 1900, and in mainland China it turned into a summer skin product with menthol or borneol and herbs, used against insect bites and prickly heat. Its most important use beyond the dressing table is spiritual. In Hoodoo and in Afro-Caribbean traditions such as Regla de Ocha, Espiritismo and Palo it serves for spiritual cleansing, and its scent is thought to please the dead. Healers in the Huancabamba and Ayabaca provinces of Peru put it in their offerings and carry it for protection, reading its Spanish name, Agua Florida, as a promise of health and good luck; in Amazonian ayahuasca ceremonies it is spat over participants to purify them.