PANO – When March is passing by and spring is giving its way to summer, pomelo flower starts to bloom. The white flower gives out the mild and pure fragrance all around the garden and the house.

For Vietnamese once living in rural areas, flowers of fruit trees like guava, mango, longan, pomelo… have left deep impression on their childhood. Pomelo flower brings a very unique feature with its pure fragrance, attracting people like an ecstasy that no one can forget once bathing themselves in that fragrance.

Pomelo flower. Photo: vnexpress.net

Admiring pomelo petals with their milk-like white colour slowly opening on strong woody branches is really an experience out of this world. The buds of the flower are small, just the size of a longan, but once blooming their fragrance travels a long distance and lasts for a long time.

It is easy to grow pomelo; therefore, virtually every family in the rural areas of Vietnam have one pomelo tree in the garden. The petals, when leaving the tree, can be collected to make pomelo-scented tea. Pomelo leaves can be used to wash the hair, adding sweet and mild fragrance to the hair. Pomelo tree also produces fruits, which is special and delicious. When going far from home, each Vietnamese often remembers the scent of the tree among other typical features of the rural areas of Vietnam.

Pomelo has, therefore, become a heart-to-heart friend of each and every rural resident in Vietnam.

Translated by Huu Duong