A mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of higher alkanes from a mineral source, particularly a distillate of petroleum. The name mineral oil by itself is imprecise, having been used for many specific oils over the past few centuries. Other names, similarly imprecise, include white oil, liquid paraffin, pariffinum liquidum (Latin), and liquid petroleum. Baby oil is a perfumed mineral oil. Horticultural oil is often made of a combination of mineral oil and detergent. It is sprayed on plants to control scale, aphid and other pest populations by suffocating the pest.