Maulsiri (Mimusops elengi L.) belongs to the Saponaceae family. It is a large evergreen ornamental tree
about 50 ft in height with white flowers and the corolla preserves its fragrance even after drying. The
present work includes a comparative analysis of the fragrance obtained from Maulsiri flowers by different
methods viz. water soluble volatiles, hexane extract and liquid CO2 extract. The extracts were analyzed by
GC and GC/MS. The chemical compositions of the extracts obtained were rich in bezenoids (61.7%), being
phenyl ethyl alcohol (23.6–32.5%) the major compound. The shade dried flowers were extracted by liquid
CO2 and the extract contained high percentage of waxy materials (59.6%). The recovery of water soluble
volatiles from the distilled water was carried out by partition with diethyl ether. The diethyl ether extract
contained polar compounds (oxygenated terpenoids and benzenoids) and very few percentages of waxy
materials. It was observed that the liquidCO2 extract of fresh flowers, which was free from solvent residue,
was organoleptically superior in comparison to the extracts obtained by the conventional processes.