Perfume Ingredients

Essential oils and other fragrant extracts come from a huge variety of naturally-occurring raw materials. Here are some of them:

Agarwood: Extremely expensive wood from eastern Asia.

Aldehydes: Synthetic chemical compounds that produce a great range of scents, from floral to woody.

Amber: Fossil resin from conifer trees; a semi-fossil form, called copal (see below), is used to make perfume. Amber also refers to scents similar to ambergris (see below).

Ambergris: A hard, waxy secretion of the intestines of the sperm whale, found floating in the sea, used as a fixative, and giving sweet, woody base notes. Now largely replaced by synthetic compounds, or labdanum (see below).

Anise: Liquorice-like seeds of a parsley plant originally from the Near East.

Angelica: Roots and stalks of a plant of the Northern Hemisphere.

Balsam: Resin of various species of trees of the Styrax genus.

Basil: Leaves and flowers of various plants of the basil family, including the kitchen herb.

Bay Leaf: Leaves of several species of laurel tree.

Benzoin (Gum Benzoin): A balsamic resin (see Balsam, above).

Bergamot: (1) rind from the sour fruit of a citrus tree, made into essence of bergamot; (2) a Mediterranean plant of the mint family, which yields a similar oil.

Calone: A synthetic chemical that imparts a marine or sea-breeze odour.

Caraway: Seeds of the culinary plant, native to Europe and western Asia.

Cardamom: Seeds of a member of the ginger family of plants.

Castoreum:A secretion from the glands of the beaver with a leathery odour, used as a fixative. Now replaced by synthetic compounds.

Cedarwood: Wood and resin from a number of varieties of cedar tree.

Chamomile: All parts of the German chamomile plant.

Cinnamon: Bark from a small evergreen tree found in Sri Lanka and Southern India.

Civet: A secretion scraped from the anal pouch of the civet cat, extracted from living animals, and used as a fixative. Now replaced synthetic compounds.

Clove: Leaf and flower bud of a tree of the myrtle family, originally from Indonesia.

Cocoa: Seeds of the cacao tree, as used to make chocolate.

Coconut: Oil extracted from copra (the dried flesh of the coconut, fruit of the coconut palm).

Copal: See Amber, above.

Coriander: Seeds of the culinary plant (also called cilantro), originally from south-western Asia and north Africa.

Coumarin: A compound found in tonka bean, lavender, cinnamon and clover, now also made synthetically.

Fenugreek: Seeds of the culinary plant, native to eastern Africa and southern Asia.

Frangipani: Blossom of the Plumeria tree, originally native to the warmer regions of the Americas.

Frankincense: Resin from a tree grown originally in the Arabian Peninsula; it is steam-distilled to produce olibanum.

Galbanum: Gum resin from a plant native to northern Iran, with a musky odour.

Geranium: Leaves and flowers of the Pelargonium family, particularly the rose-scented varieties.

Ginger: Roots of the ginger plant, originally native to southern China.

Grapefruit: Zest from the fruit.

Iris: Rhizomes (root-like parts) of the iris plant.

Jasmine: Blossoms (picked at dawn) from jasmine shrubs and vines, grown in warmer parts of Asia.

Juniper: Berries of the juniper shrub.

Labdanum: Resin from the leaves and twigs of two species of Mediterranean rockrose, used in place of ambergris (see above).

Lavender: Flowers and leaves of a number of species of lavender plant.

Lemon: Zest from the fruit.

Lime: Zest from the fruit.

Mace: Fragrant covering of the nutmeg shell.

Mandarin: Zest from the fruit.

Mimosa: Blossom from a species of Acacia.

Musk: Secretion from the male musk deer (now a protected species), used as a fixative. Now replaced by synthetic compounds.

Myrrh: Resin from a tree native to Somalia.

Myrtle: Leaves of a shrub native to the Mediterranean region.

Neroli: see Orange, below.

Nutmeg: Seeds of the nutmeg tree, originally from tropical South-east Asia and Australasia.

Oakmoss: A lichen of the Northern Hemisphere, used for its woody, sharp and mildly sweet base notes and as a fixative.

Olibanum: Distilled oil from frankincense resin (see above).

Opopanax: Resin from the stem of a flowering plant of the Mediterranean region, also known as 'sweet myrrh'.

Orange: (1) leaves are used to make 'petitgrain'; (2) blossoms are used to make 'neroli'; (3) rind of the fruit is used to make orange oils.

Orris root: Root of some species of iris, used as a fixative and for base notes.

Osmanthus: Jasmine-like flower from a shrub grown in temperate parts of the world.

Patchouli: The leaves of an Asiatic tree.

Petitgrain: See Orange, above.

Pine: Resin from a number of species of pine tree.

Rose: Petals (picked at dawn) used to make rose oil (rose otto), and (in solution) rose water.

Rosewood: Wood from rosewood trees (extracted by steam distillation).

Sage (Clary Sage): Flowers and leaves of this member of the sage family, from Europe and central Asia.

Sandalwood: Wood of an evergreen tree of Southern Asia, used for base notes and as a fixative.

Sassafras: Root bark and fruit of a North American tree of the laurel family.

Styrax: Resin of the genus of trees called Styrax, used to make benzoin, or balsamic resin.

Terpenes: Resins from pine and fir trees, and also found in many other plants. The word is derived from turpentine.

Tagetes: Leaves and flowers of the Tagetes minuta, a marigold originally from South America.

Thyme: Leaves and flowers of the culinary plant, native to Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Tonka bean: Vanilla-scented beans of a tree or shrub from tropical Central America and South America.

Tuberose: Flowers from a plant of the agave family (the name comes from its tuberous roots), originally from Central America.

Vanilla: Fragrant beans of a member of the orchid family.

Vetiver: Roots of a tall grass from the warm parts of Asia.

Ylang-ylang: (pronounced e-lahng e-lahng) Greenish-yellow flowers of the Asian cananga tree.