Forgotten and Exotic Flowers in Perfumery: Broom, Osmanthus, Gardenia…
Broom (Genêt)
Shrub with fragrant and toxic golden-yellow flowers. The broom bush is native to Europe and has been adopted in the United States, particularly in rural areas of the American West. It grows wild throughout Europe but the one used in perfumery grows in Italy.
Broom absolute is extracted from the concrete by washing the flowers with volatile solvents and alcohol. Broom has diuretic properties. It can also be hallucinogenic. In perfumery, it is used in floral, chypre, and oriental notes. It brings a natural and rich character to perfumes.
Legend: It is said that in 1128, Geoffrey V, known as “the Handsome,” Count of Anjou and Maine, was riding in a moor near the city of Le Mans, when he saw a unicorn with a woman’s head and dressed in a golden mantle in the middle of a field of broom. Overwhelmed by this apparition, he chose to make this plant his emblem and to plant it on his lands, hence the origin of the nickname “Plantagenet.”
Olfactory description: fruity, bitter, orange blossom, linden, honey, tobacco.
Magnolia
Magnolia belongs to the Magnoliaceae family. It is a tree native to the Far East (Japan, China), Central Asia (Himalayas), North America (Southern United States), and Central America which has been widely acclimatized in Europe.
The name magnolia was given to it in the 17th century by brother Charles Plumier (1646-1704) in honor of Pierre Magnol (1638-1715), a French physician and botanist, who was director of the botanical garden of Montpellier. Another hypothesis is that it was Carl Linnaeus who created the word Magnolia, also in honor of Pierre Magnol.
It has flowers, pink, white, or cream which have a delicate tulip or star shape. The variety Magnolia Grandiflora is one of the many fragrant varieties of this family of flowering trees. Magnolia is used in fine perfumery. It possesses a soft floral fragrance with vanilla and lemony accents.
The scent of magnolia can be reproduced in the laboratory by the perfumer. But it is also possible to extract a fragrant essential oil from certain varieties like magnolia Michelia alba.
Magnolia flower is used in L’Instant de Guerlain. There are two products: magnolia leaf and magnolia flower coming from southern China: LMR/IFF.
Olfactory description: floral, vanilla-like, lemony, sweet.
Gardenia
Gardenia is a small shrub with very fragrant white flowers. Origin: China, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, India, California.
Gardenia absolute obtained from the extraction of the gardenia flower is absolutely not faithful to the smell of the flower in its natural state. It is simply used to isolate styrallyl acetate: green rhubarb note.
In perfumery, perfumers use reconstitutions of gardenia whose main constituents are: white flower accord, green notes, and molecules called tiglates (mushroom note).
Guerlain perfumes illustrating this raw material: Cruel Gardénia (L’Art et la Matière collection), Chant d’Arômes, and Jardins de Bagatelle.
Olfactory Description: floral, white flower, opulent, green, fruity, slightly mushroom-like.
Osmanthus
The name osmanthus comes from Greek and means “fragrant flowers.” This plant comes to us from southern China, and is highly prized for its fruity aroma of apricot and peach. It is particularly appreciated as an additive in teas and other such beverages. The color of osmanthus flowers varies from silvery white to golden orange or even red.
They are generally preserved in brine and as a result take on a very characteristic leather note. I was lucky enough to smell an osmanthus treated just after picking; the smell was therefore less leathery, I found it even more interesting.
It is the orange osmanthus that is treated in perfumery. The flowers are treated by volatile solvent extraction to obtain a concrete. The concrete is then washed with alcohol to obtain osmanthus absolute. The essential oil obtained from the flowers is used as an insect repellent. It is reputed to reduce stress and induce good mood.
Olfactory description: floral, white flower, fruity, apricot, leather, violet.
Pittosporum
Pittosporum is native to Australia, South Africa, and Southeast Asia. It is a small tree with beautiful glossy evergreen foliage with white and greenish flowers. It has about 200 species that thrive by the sea in a mild climate. Flowering takes place in April-May.
The perfume of the flower is voluptuous and leaves a trail between orange blossom and jasmine. In the South of France, Pittosporum hedges are very “common.” It is impossible to have an essence or an absolute. Reconstitutions therefore exist. Depending on the sensitivity and talent of the perfumer, the result will be truly different.
Olfactory description: floral, orange blossom, jasmine, animalic.
To visit: La Mortola or the Hanbury Botanical Garden is located about 4 km from Menton, on the Italian side: Park of 18 hectares, half of which is occupied by Mediterranean flora and the other devoted to exotic plants. Also worth seeing is the Villa Orengo, a 16th-century palace.
Mahonia
Mahonia is native to America and Asia, an evergreen shrub with leaves resembling those of holly, slightly prickly. Height of 2 to 4 m, the flowers are yellow and very decorative clusters of purple to black fruits, which redden in winter. Flowering depending on the species from November to March. Can only be used in perfumery as a “reproduction.”
Olfactory description: spreads around it a light cloud of honey, lily of the valley, and narcissus.
The list of these “lesser-known” flowers is far from complete; two words before concluding on: Karo Karounde which smells a bit like narcissus, very green, quite leathery, animalic, which is in a Guerlain perfume, a flower I will certainly talk about one day.
