In fragrance, vanilla is usually encountered as a mood - warm, sweet and comforting - rather than as the product of a particular plant and history. One of the most consequential chapters in that history unfolded on the island of Réunion in 1841.

Vanilla had arrived on Réunion from Mexico, but the vines flowered without producing pods. Away from the insects that pollinated them in their native habitat, the orchids offered growers little more than decoration.

The solution came from Edmond Albius, a twelve-year-old boy who had been born into slavery in Sainte-Suzanne. While working on the estate of Ferréol Bellier-Beaumont, he discovered that a small membrane inside the vanilla flower could be lifted with a slender piece of bamboo, allowing its male and female parts to be pressed together by hand.

Botanists in Europe had previously managed to pollinate vanilla artificially, but their methods were difficult to use beyond botanical gardens and greenhouses. Albius's technique was quick, practical and easy to teach. Growers began requesting demonstrations, and he was taken around Réunion to show others how to reproduce the movement.

His method turned vanilla from an ornamental plant into a viable export crop, eventually spreading from Réunion to Madagascar. Today, Madagascar supplies most of the world's natural vanilla and exports hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of it each year. Yet the work behind that trade has changed remarkably little: because each flower opens only briefly, it must still be found and pollinated individually by hand.

Despite the importance of his innovation, Albius saw none of the wealth generated by the industry it helped create. He became free when slavery was abolished in the French colonies in 1848 and later worked as a cook, servant, cultivator and stonemason. His contribution was defended by influential members of Réunion's colonial establishment, whose access to government, scientific societies and the press helped preserve his place in the history of vanilla. Even so, their appeals for him to be recognised and rewarded came to nothing.

Vanilla did not originate in Africa, but the modern industry around it owes much to what happened on Réunion. Nearly two centuries later, natural vanilla is still pollinated one flower at a time using Albius's method. His name may be absent from perfume descriptions, but his work remains present wherever the orchid is cultivated.