Search Results for: Clary Sage

Clary Sage Essential Oil Profile

Native to Europe and cultivated worldwide, Clary Sage has many chemotypes and each has a
separate scent profile depending on what is harvested and the terroir. This profile details the many sides
of Clary Sage and how it is used.

(Clary Sage flowers – Jeanne Rose garden 2014)

Clary Sage Synopsis

Common Name/Latin Binomial: Clary Sage, Salvia sclarea

Other Common Name/Naming Information: The word salvia comes from the Latin salvus having to do with medicinal properties and health and sclarea from the Latin clarus or clear meaning the leaves and seeds are used medicinally to clear the eye. [It does NOT mean you can use the EO in the eye; it means if there was a bug or something in the eye, the seed was placed in the corner of the eye and exuded a moist gooey substance called a mucilage that would enable the person to remove the seed as well as whatever it was stuck too.]

Family: Lamiaceae (Labiatae)

Countries of Origins: It is native to Europe and cultivated worldwide. in the past was found in Southern France, Italy, and Syria, but today is cultivated worldwide – mostly within European regions, including Central Europe, as well as England, Morocco, Russia, and the United States.

Harvest Location: Clary Sage absolute originates in France and Clary Sage EO is from Bulgaria.

Endangered or Not: Not at this time

General description of Plant habitat and growth: Biennial or perennial plant growing up to three feet high with large hairy leaves that only grow to half the height of the plant. Coming directly off long, thin stems, the lilac-pink flowers rise above the leaves.

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields: Clary Sage must be picked and distilled fresh and with removal of the thick stalk. The flowers and flowering tops are steam distilled. Depending on terroir, climate and weather, the yield is .1-1.0%.

Organoleptic Characteristics:

Color pale yellow green
Clarity clear
Viscosity Non-viscous
Intensity of odor 4

Bergamot & Amber =2; Rose Geranium = 4; Tea Tree= 6; Cinnamon = 8; Wintergreen & Cloves = 9

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment:Clary Sage has many chemotypes and each has a separate scent profile.I use a simple Vocabulary of Odor© to describe to describe the odor of essential oils. It is easy to learn and very helpful in the study of these products of distillation. I also have an Advanced Vocabulary of Odor© that is more complex but gives you a snapshot of the scent. So it always surprises me when someone can’t seem to use descriptive words to describe an odor and resorts to poetical uses. Poetry is beautiful but it is not helpful in describing an odor. The Perfume Album by Jessee describes Clary Sage thusly, “It taxes vocabulary and imagination to describe adequately the precise character of the clary sage fragrance. It has been likened to that of ambergris and labdanum…”. “The odor is considered reminiscent of Ambergris (a type of whale excreta)”. I find this description very unhelpful. It really doesn’t do this herb or EO justice.

However, since there are so many different Clary Sage odors due to the many chemotypes or the different terroirs and how it is grown; or whether it is harvested and distilled for leaves or for flowers alone; the variety of scent descriptions is enormous. My favorite Clary Sage odor is one that comes from plants distilled mainly from the flowers; it is citrus, strongly fruity and lightly floral with a distinctive herbaceous back note that is quite spicy.

Clary Sage Absolute supplied by Eden Botanicals

General Properties: The herb is calmative, relaxant, and soporific. The EO can be calming, aphrodisiac, tonic, nervine, estrogenic, antidepressant astringent, antispasmodic and even grounding.

Uses of Properties: When used by application in skin care products, Clary Sage is used in skin care for aging skin, regenerating skin, and for reducing wrinkles. It stimulates hair growth when mixed with Jojoba oil and applied to the roots. It may also be useful in certain products for muscular fatigue, cramps, and excessive perspiration. The EO may also be inhaled for menstrual problems, fertility, PMS, menopausal problems, exhaustion, and for reducing epileptic attacks. Only more science and time will tell if these problems can be successfully treated by Clary Sage EO.

For years I primarily used Clary Sage as an inhalant during hot flashes. I alternated with Pink Grapefruit and White Grapefruit.

Application/ Skincare: Clary Sage is used in skin care for aging skin, regenerating skin, and for reducing wrinkles. It stimulates hair growth when mixed with Jojoba oil and applied to the roots. It may be used for excessive perspiration.

A Recipe by Jeanne Rose for the Skin

FINE SKIN CARE OIL Acne/Pimples.
Make a mixture of the following
• 2 drops Clary Sage
• 2 drops Roman Chamomile or Owyhee
• 1 drop Lantana
• 1 drop Cypress
• 14 drops Almond or Olive oil
Apply directly to the Acne or Pimple after cleansing the skin.

Diffuse/Diffusion: Clary Sage EO can be added to most other EO to make a blends depending on your need and what oils you blend together. Diffusion can be used for hot flashes, nervous fatigue, depression, emotional distress, and a good night’s rest. It is grounding, relaxing and mildly intoxicating.

Thirty years ago I decided to spend a summer making Clary Sage perfumes. I tried everyone’s recipes and made over a hundred using Clary Sage and Patchouli as the top note and base note with a variety of different odors in between. Up to that time I had not truly appreciated the scent of Clary Sage but grew to love it especially with Labdanum and Vetivert. So I grew it in the garden. Now I notice that the very special pungent odor of Clary Sage EO that I am used too is gone, replaced by a pale shadow of itself. This less intense odor may be preferred by those who make perfume. I suggest to anyone who enjoys Clary Sage EO to make a point of growing several of the chemotypes (sclareol type and other) sometime to really get to know and understand the odor.

Clary Sage Exam of 13 sorts – see how many I studied

Emotional/Energetic Use: When inhaled Clary Sage is useful to reduce hot flashes, nervous fatigue, depression, emotional distress, PMS, and for a good night’s rest. It is grounding and also mildly intoxicating. There are internet sites that state Clary Sage is “energetically attuned to the structure of the eye, connecting the physical eyes with the Third eye. It expands sensory and psychic powers.”

Key Use: Skin care and female problems related to the reproductive system.

Chemical Components: linalool, linalyl acetate up to 72%, caryophyllene, a-terpineol, geraniol, neryl acetate, sclareol in the sclareol chemotype and germacrene D. There are many chemotypes of Clary Sage and they are rarely identified on the bottles. The farmers who grow Clary Sage for the tobacco crop often have the sclareol type while perfumers want the non-sclareol type.

Physiochemical Properties:
Specific Gravity at 15°/15° ………. 0.900 to 0.910
Optical Rotation ……………………… -11°22’ to -32°38’
Refractive Index ……………………… 1.4613 to 1.4700
Solubility ………………………… Soluble in some cases in 1 vol. of 80% alcohol, opalescent with more. In most cases, however, soluble in 0.5 vol. of 90% alcohol, clear to turbid with more.

Essential oil glands of Clary Sage

Comparison of Main Components: Abstract from Flavour and Fragrance Journal. June 1991, Volume 6, Issue 2, Pages fmi–fmi, 109–169. The chemical composition of two essential oil types of Salvia sclarea L. during early and late flowering stages was analyzed. A new chemotype with relatively high citral, geranyl acetate and geraniol content was observed in two small populations growing in northern Israel. Comparison of the new chemotype with a Russian type showed a great difference in composition, scent and organoleptic character between the two oils. The highest amount of mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons was detected in the Israeli type, at the early flowering stage. The relative quantity of most components of hybrid oils was intermediate between those of the parent plants.

Blends Best with: Clary Sage blends well with Bergamot, Wild Orange, Cypress, Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender and Sandalwood essential oil and is a perfect combination with Labdanum or Patchouli.

Blending with formula: Here is a simple calming massage oil.
Top note – 20 drops of Pink Grapefruit
Heart note – 10 drops of Clary Sage
Base Note – 5 drops Patchouli

Succuss the formula. Then add a carrier oil of your choice up to ½-1 oz. Succuss again. Use.

photo by Jeanne Rose ~ see Hydrosol Booklet

HYDROSOL: Clary Sage hydrosol is used for oily skin as an astringent. It can be a facial spray to energize, for PMS and for easing drug withdrawal. I also spray it on sweets as a tasty addition.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

Historical Uses: Poucher mentions that Salvia sclarea “is pre-eminent as a fixator for any perfume and when added to a perfume at ½ to 1% will within a month smooth out and get rid of “any chemical smell” of your perfume”. It is invaluable as a blender and fixative in alcoholic perfumes, and particularly in toilet waters —such as traditional eau-de-cologne.

Interesting Information: It is grown in North Carolina for the flavor and fragrance industry. When it is in bloom it fills the field at harvest time and the odor is very strong. David Peele of Avoca, Inc. laughs when he mentions how people react to the odor, … “People have a concept of what it should smell like,” he said. “We have to laugh when we see them stop on the road and grab a bunch of the flowers. “Then, about a mile down the road, we’ll see the flowers thrown out on the side.”

“The name Salvia is derived from the Latin word for ‘good health’. In Germany the herb was used with elderflowers as an additive to cheap wine to make it taste like Muscatel. Also used to flavor vermouths and liqueurs. In Britain, it was used as a substitute for hops in beer making. In Jamaica, the plant was blended with coconut to ease scorpion stings. The seeds were used in many countries to clear conditions of the eye—hence the name ‘clear-eye’”, Essential Aromatherapy, p.126.

Contraindications: There is no evidence that the sclareol of Clary Sage ‘balances the hormones’ and does not seem to have any negative side effects although there are some sources that recommend it not be used during the first trimester of pregnancy. For some, Clary Sage is mildly intoxicating.

Safety Precautions: Moderation in use is recommended.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

Ingestion of Essential Oils: I do not recommend the ingestion or injection of essential oils for any reason.

References:

Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Arctander. 1960
Coombs, Allen J. Dictionary of Plant Names. Timber Press. 1995
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publishing. Florida. 1976
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol. IAG Botanics. 2015 (supporter of testing hydrosols)
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose. San Francisco California, 1992
Jessee, Jill. Perfume Album. Robert E. Krieger Publ. Co. 1951.
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Mojay, Gabriel. Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1999.
Poucher, W.A. Perfumes and Cosmetics. D. Van Nostrand Company. 1923
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California:
Worwood, Susan & Valerie Ann. Essential Aromatherapy, Novato, California: New World Library, 2003.

Abstract/Scientific Data:

Diversity of essential oil glands of clary sage (Salvia sclarea L., Lamiaceae) By C. Schmiderer¹, P. Grassi¹, J. Novak¹, M. Weber² and C. Franz¹

Article first published online: 28 JUN 2008DOI: 10.1111/j.1438-8677.2008.00053.x© 2008 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands Plant Biology Volume pages 433–440, July 2008.

The Lamiaceae is rich in aromatic plant species. Most of these species produce and store essential oils in specialized epidermal oil glands, which are responsible for their specific flavor. Two types of glands producing essential oil and possessing different morphological structure can be found in Salvia sclarea: peltate and capitate glands. The content of single oil glands from different positions on the plant (corolla, calyx and leaf) were sampled using an SPME fiber and analyzed by gas chromatography in order to study variability of the essential oil composition. It was found that the composition of terpenoids is quite variable within an individual plant. Capitate oil glands mainly produce three essential oil compounds: the monoterpenes linalool and linalyl acetate, and the diterpene sclareol. Peltate oil glands, however, accumulate noticeable concentrations of sesquiterpenes and an unknown compound (m/z = 354). Furthermore, the oil composition varies within each gland type according to the plant organ. Linalool and linalyl acetate are characteristic substances of flowers, whereas the sesquiterpenes occur in higher proportions in leaves. Even within one gland type on a single leaf, the chemical variability is exceedingly high.

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

JR

Sage EO Profile

Aug4

Sage Essential Oil and/or Hydrosol Profile
By Jeanne Rose ~ 7-30-16

Sage Oil Synopsis: Including the organoleptic and physiochemical properties, history, naming, properties and uses and background, and Jeanne Rose personal recipes and formulas.

photo by Jeanne Rose ~ essential oil courtesy Eden Botanicals

Common Name/Latin Binomial: Sage is the general name for the herbs of the Salvia species, all of which are native of southern Europe and the Western Mediterranean. Common sage also called Dalmatian Sage, Salvia officinalis L., is a perennial herb of the Labiatae/Lamiaceae family and is now produced worldwide.

Other Common Name/Naming Information: Sage was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The name salvus means safe and refers to the medicinal properties while officinalis means it was sold or used as a medicinal herb.

Family: Labiatae now called Lamiaceae are a family of flowering plants. The plants are frequently aromatic in all parts and include many widely used culinary herbs, such as Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Sage, Savory and Thyme.

Countries of Origins: Sage is the general name for the herbs of the Salvia species, all of which are native of
southern Europe and the Western Mediterranean. Originally, harvested in the Dalmatian Islands and nearby coast (now part of Croatia), Sage is grown easily in many areas.

Harvest Location: Bulgaria for Eden Botanicals and grown and distilled by many other countries in Europe.

Endangered or Not: The population is stable and is of least concern.

General description of Plant habitat and growth: Perennial evergreen herb (shrub), with woody stems and grayish leaves and blue to purple flowers. It is a Mediterranean native plant but has been naturalized throughout the world. This herb has a long historical medicinal and culinary usage. Cultivars vary in size and leaf type with various colors of leaf and flower and also variegated leaves. The original Sage grows to about 2 feet, flowers in late spring or summer. The leaves can range in size from 2.5 inches and up to 1 inch wide.

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields: The leaves of the young plants picked before flowering are either steam-distilled or CO₂extracted. Yield 1.4%±. This oil is often adulterated with naturally occurring thujone and the adulteration may be hard to detect.

The leaves are used fresh or dried, whole or chopped, for foods and culinary teas and flavorings.

Sage CO₂– courtesy Prima Fleur

Historical Uses: The herb has been in use for thousands of years, specifically in baths to ease muscle aches and pains and to cleanse smelly feet; in food to camouflage slightly putrefying meat; as a tea to drink for headache; as an infusion to use on the hair to keep it black or gargle for sore throat or mouthwash. In 1873, Sage was used with the toxic/poisonous compounds of lead and cantharides (from Lytta vesicatoria or Spanish fly as a rubefacient) with glycerin as a hair restorer. During WWI Sage oil was mostly used in field hospitals.

Interesting Information: Extracts of the herb Sage with Rosemary herb (as tea) can enhance memory and cognitive performance comparable to the effect of the caffeine found in tea and coffee.

Organoleptic Characteristic:

Odor Description/Aroma Assessment: Sage oil has a camphoraceous, thujone-like aroma and is used in the fragrance industry. The oil is very aromatic with a distinct herbaceous, camphoraceous, and spicy scent.

General Properties: Leaves are used, usually dried, in cooking although often adulterated with Salvia fructicosa called Greek Sage or Greek Oregano. It is an antioxidant, folk remedy, and medicine for heart disease (in Crete), included in cheese (such as Derby cheese in the UK), formerly used as a medicine and cleaning teeth, in local drinks (in Cyprus), with the flavor having to due with terpineol and often thujone. —Mabberley’s Plant-Book.

Properties and Uses: The herb Sage tea was drunk as a bactericide, tonic, nervine, calmative, antiseptic, emmenagogue, and antisudorific. Due to the presence of thujone, it is not recommended that the essential oil and large quantities of the herb tea be taken.
Sage oil has been used by ingestion, inhalation and application.

The essential oil is used by Inhalation as an antidepressant, nervine, and some say an adrenal cortex stimulant.
By application the EO is astringent, antiseptic, lipolytic, antifungal, and used in anti-cellulite and antifungal creams, and antibacterial for specific bacteria, such as staph’, strep’ and pseudomonas bacteria.

Physical Uses: Ingestion: “The herb tea is used internally as a tonic, as a general stimulant to the nervous system and adrenal cortex, as a calmative, it is antiseptic, stops sweating and lactation, encourages menses, has a restorative effect on the body, is used to reduce night sweats, can be taken during menopause and is indicated for all kinds of illness” 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols, p. 134.

Application: Sage oil in a dilution of (99 parts carrier to 1 part oil) can be used in mouth rinse, vaginal rinse, and anal rinse and is applied to insect bites and stings, some say it is used for insufficient gall bladder and liver output. It is an emmenagogue, a powerful antifungal against Candida, is used on herpes, and in a massage oil for bad circulation, and in skin care products to reduce oily secretions. It is a great, fragrant disinfectant.
Applied in a diluted rate of 75•25 (vinegar to oil) blend with vinegar and rubbed on feet after sports exercises, it kills athlete’s foot fungus.
Both Sage tea as a tea and Sage oil inhaled alleviate the hot flashes of menopause and aids breathing for asthma as well. However, too much inhalation can sometimes cause vertigo.

Application/Skincare (formula at end) True Sage oil has dextrorotation while others have laevorotation. “Many prominent aromatherapy authorities consider that Sage should never be used at all. I believe it can be used in moderation especially in massage blends for aching muscles and muscular pain”, 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols, p. 137.

Do not use Sage oil in the underarm area or delicate areas of the body.

Diffuse/Diffusion: Sage oil can be used in blends in a diffuser. Allow it to be only 2% of the total of the EO blend.

Emotional/Energetic Use: The herb is used or the scent of the EO inhaled for wisdom, energy and for great esteem. “Inhaled the oil is antidepressant (although too strong for many), sometimes uplifting (depressing for some), and useful for mental strain, too much book-work and mental exhaustion. When any oil is inhaled through the diffuser or via a pot of boiling water, it enters the mucous membrane of the nasal mucosa, is absorbed into the blood circulation and affects the entire body and mind” 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols, p. 134. Use this oil only in dilutions.

Blending and Perfumery: Dalmatian Sage oil is used for its powerful intense odor with good tenacity. In can be used as part of the top note or the heart note. The dry-down is herbaceous and pleasant.

Blends Best with: Citrus, Lavender particularly Lavandin, Rosemary, Rosewood and especially other Mediterranean scents. It produces sweet fresh qualities for Fern blends, Chypres types and colognes especially for men’s products.

SAGE EO-plant soft edge

Sage oil courtesy of Eden Botanicals

Chemical Components: The essential oil (1 to 2.5%) is composed rather differently in different species and varieties of sage. “Dalmatian sage” (S. officinalis ssp. minor) contains mostly thujone (35 to 60%), 1,8-cineol (15%), camphor (18%), borneol (16%), bornyl esters, α-pinene and salvene. “Spanish sage” (ssp. lavandulifolia) lacks thujone, but contains more cineol (29%) and camphor (34%); this subspecies is regarded as inferior. Its leaves lack the bitter diterpene carnosol (see hyssop). And there is Mexican bush sage, Salvia leucantha and fructicosa, Salvia dorisiana as well as Greek sage (S. triloba) which is more strongly aromatic, but generally not accepted as a legitimate spice (at least, outside Greece). This species has an interesting, yet less subtle fragrance. The essential oil is dominated by cineol (64%) and contains small amounts of thujone (5%) and camphor (8%), but hardly any borneol. This species is furthermore characterized by a flavone called salvigenin, by which adulterations of S. officinalis with S. triloba can be detected. Carnosol is found in Sage. It is a phenolic diterpene found in the Mediterranean herbs Rosemary and Mountain desert sage. It has been studied in-vitro for anti-cancer effects in various cancer cell types.

Sage Physiochemical

Sage EO gland x4 copy

HYDROSOL: Salvia officinalis – Hydrosol • Historically, Sage water from Salvia officinalis was mentioned in 1874 as being used the same as Lavender water. (see Cooley, p. 651) The hydrosol is very close in odor to the herb. This hydrosol is slightly astringent and good as a cleansing spray for oily or normal skin. It can be used as a facial spray for oily and acne-prone facial skin or on the body, particularly in dilution on the underarms and very personal areas to reduce odor. As a deodorant it works well with a preapplication of an Australian Sandalwood and alcohol mixture (10%•90%). The hydrosol I looked at and analyzed was from Provence, France ~ very nice and very fragrant of the herb.

As an insect spray add Eucalyptus citriodora and Peppermint essential oils to the Sage Hydrosol. In a massage and mist applications, it is considered a circulatory stimulant. It may help balance the hormones and autonomic nervous system and may be helpful in easing the symptoms of menopause, PMS and menstrual cramps. There is a suggestion that when Sage Hydrosol is applied at the onset of swollen lymph nodes, it can help reduce the swelling (but the person is not specific as to how this is applied).
Len and Shirley Price report that the Sage Hydrosol that they analyzed consists of 50-55% eucalyptol, 37-55% ketones and 5-6% alcohols and possesses the following properties: “analgesic, anticoagulant, antiinfectious, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, bactericidal, calming, cicatrizing, decongestant, digestive, expectorant, lipolytic, mucolytic, sedative, stimulant”. A drink of the Sage hydrosol can help reduce excessive sweating. (1 t./8 oz. water).

Sage Hydrosol and Plant

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

Key Use: The Oil of Drying.

Contradictions: Know what you are using as some species of Sage contain thujone, which can affect the nervous system. Extended use or taking large amounts of Sage leaf or oil may result in restlessness, vomiting, vertigo, rapid heart rate, tremors, seizures, and kidney damage. It also may lead to wheezing. Ingesting 12 drops or more of the essential oil is considered a toxic dose.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although Sage oil is one of the most important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use it yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions: Do not apply this essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapist suggest that Sage not be used at all. However, as with many Mediterranean plants, its chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

Sage References:
Askinson, George. Perfumes and Cosmetics. Hodder & Stoughton, London. 1915
Cooley, Arnold J. Complete Practical Treatise on Perfumery. Henry Carey Baird, Philadelphia. 1874.
Coombs, Allen J. Dictionary of Plant Names. Timber Press, Oregon. 1995
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publishing Company, Florida. 1949 reprint 1974.
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992

Bibliography

Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Arctander. 1960
Coombs, Allen J. Dictionary of Plant Names. Timber Press. 1995
Deite, Dr. C. A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture of Perfumery. Henry Carey Baird & Co., Philadelphia, 1892.
Franchomme, P. l’aromatherapie exactement. R. Jollois: France, 1990
Lawless, Julia. The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils. Element: Massachusetts, 1992
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, CA.,
Rose, Jeanne. . Grosset & Dunlap: New York, 1992
Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things. In spiral bound format from Jeanne Rose from a 1972 1^st Editor
Rose, Jeanne. The Herbal Guide to Food. North Atlantic Books. 1979.
Rose, Jeanne. Natural Botanical Perfumery. San Francisco, Ca. 2014

Scientific Data: The oil of Salvia officinalis is also known for its medicinal-biological activities, such as antimicrobial and fungicidal effects (Carta et al., 1996; Edris et al., 2007; Barlcevic et al., 2000).

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

Sage plant from Eatwell Farm photo by Jeanne Rose

SAGE USES AND RECIPES BY JEANNE ROSE

Experience with this EO and Herb: When I first started using herbs and essential oils about 50 years ago I mainly used herb Sage for tea, coughs and colds, or sore throat gargle and the essential oil mainly for sports injuries as a massage with other oils for aching muscles. Now I prefer the EO diluted and as an inhalant because it reminds me to think healthy thoughts ~ it is a visionary odor of the garden.

Foot Soak & Plaster

Soak: For a good hot soak, use ½-cup to 1-cup of Epsom salts in enough water to cover your feet plus 6 to 10 drops of essential oil to reduce pain and edema. I am particularly fond of antiperspirant analgesic oils such as Sage, Juniper Berry, Cypress and Lemon. Essential oils that reduce pain can also be used in this soaking water such as Frankincense and Rosemary.

Herbal Foot Soak: Make a strong infusion of herbs that you have including Rosemary, Sage, Comfrey and whatever else looks good in your garden. Strain out the herbs and use the herbs as a plaster to wrap around foot holding in place with a linen or cloth. Put feet into a hot infusion for 20 minutes. After squeeze the fluid out of the plaster, wrap feet in a dry towel to keep warm for another 20 minutes. Remove plaster, dry feet, and massage. — SPA Book by Jeanne Rose

Sage Aftershave Spray
Infuse ½ oz. of herb Sage and Rosemary combination into 1-cup of Apple cider vinegar for a week. Strain out the herbs. Add an equal quantity of Witch Hazel extract or hydrosol or Rose hydrosol. Add up to 5 drops of Sage essential oil. Put into a spray bottle. Shake thoroughly before each usage.

Jeanne Rose uses this EO for Application with other oils for aching muscles and joints. A good combination is Sage oil mixed equally with Basil EO, Cypress oil and Juniper berry EO and then 75% Bruise Juice.

Aching Muscle Massage Oil
Make an herbal infusion of Sage leaves, Rosemary leaves and Basil in Olive Oil or the oil of your choosing. You can use the methods outlined in the Jeanne Rose Herbal Body Book on page 324-329. Make at least 2 cups to 1 quart of the oil infusion. To every quart of the strained herbal infused oil add up to ¼ oz. of essential oil (2.5% EO). My favorite combination is equal amounts of Basil, Rosemary and Sage essential oil. Very comforting, very relaxing.

Culinary Recipe by Jeanne Rose.

Delicious & Simple Turkey Stuffing
2 oz. butter
1 Onion, chopped
2 stalks Celery with tops, finely sliced
1 sweet Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1-2 T (tablespoon measure) Olive oil
½ cup coarsely chopped or sliced Mushrooms
2 T (tablespoon measure) fresh Sage, coarsely chopped
½ cup Parsley, chopped
¼ cup wheat germ (optional)
½ lb. whole wheat bread croutons (toasted)
salt, soy sauce, optional

Sauté in the butter the Onions, Celery, Garlic, and Bell Peppers. In another pan, sauté Mushrooms in the olive oil. Combine the two pans and add the Sage, Parsley, Wheat germ, and croutons. Add salt if you like, and maybe some Soy sauce. Give it a few good stirs with a large wooden spoon. Lightly spoon the stuffing into the cavity of the turkey and bake or put into an oven-proof pan with some of the turkey fat and cook. —from Jeanne Rose Herbal Guide to Food.

Blending with formula:

Mediterranean Cologne

Eau de cologne is normally about 75% alcohol, 25% water + 5% EO blend. When I speak of alcohol I am discussing 95% neutral grape or grain spirit. If you cannot get this, then use ‘Everclear’ at 75% which already is 25% water. Then you will just need to add the essential oil blend. Any blend will do. But for Sage then additions already mentioned such as a sweet Lavender, Rosewood, maybe Australian Sandalwood, Violet leaf and the like would be appropriate. Try the following: Make a blend of 5 drops each of Sage, Clary Sage and Lavender. This is 15 drops total. Add this to 1 oz. of 75% alcohol and succuss (shake) vigorously. Put into a spray bottle and shake the bottle before each use. Spray on wrists, back of neck. [to 95 drops of the 75% alcohol add 5 drops of the EO blend].

Sage Limerick
Sage oil is useful for the bruise
It should be used on your cruise
To states far and wide
And wherever you ride
Sage oil will make you enthused.—JeanneRose2014.

JR

Sage 2-leaf

Sage oval

GRAPEFRUIT ESSENTIAL OIL

Feb21

GRAPEFRUIT ESSENTIAL OIL

By Jeanne Rose ~ 2019

Synopsis ~ Grapefruit EO & Plant ~ A complete description, country of origin, characteristics, skin care, formulas and recipes on how to use this oil as well as facts and fantasies not yet known.

Grapefruit oils, two kinds of Grapefruit and Grapefruit jam. — **Essential oils courtesy of Eden Botanicals**

Common Name/Latin Binomial ~ Grapefruit is Citrus paradisi, Citrus x aurantium (2015), sometimes called Citrus medica.

Other Common Name/Naming Information ~ The Grapefruit group of citrus originates from a back cross of C. paradisi with a female of C. maxima and a more up-to-date Latin binomial is Citrus x aurantium. Citrus maxima (Citrus grandis), the Pomelo, is a parent of our essential oil producing Grapefruit but is not used itself for EO production.

Family ~ Rutaceae, the Citrus family

Origins: South Africa, USA, Iran, Brazil, and Israel. Grapefruit originated in China or maybe the West Indies. Disputed history shows “careful search has not found it a native of the Olde Worlde”⁵.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location ~ The white Grapefruit and pink Grapefruit fruit are harvested in the USA while the ruby red Grapefruit is harvested in Israel.

General description of Plant habitat and growth ~ Grapefruit is a small tree with dark, evergreen leaves and large, creamy white flowers and large, yellow or pinkish fruits that ripen from December to March.

Grapefruit has a thick rind and large sections. Its skin called the flavedo is thick, firm, and fragrant; the pulp is white to red in color and acidic. Grapefruit trees produce the best quality fruit on sandy, relatively fertile soils in a warm humid climate. Supplementary fertilization is necessary in practically all producing areas. The trees come into bearing early and should produce commercially profitable crops by the fourth to sixth year after they are planted in the orchard. Mature trees may produce remarkably large crops—585 to 675 kg (1,290 to 1,490 pounds) of fruit per tree. Grapefruit consists of flavedo (outer layer with essential oil glands), albedo (white inner rind) and oval-shaped meat.²

Endangered or Not ~ Not currently.

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields ~ The oil is located deep within the flavedo of the peel and is thick. The Grapefruit does not produce large quantities of oil because of this thickness from the flavedo. The fresh peel is cold-pressed and contains up to 90% limonene.

Yield – 0.5-1.0%

•

Grapefruit ~ Organoleptic Characteristics of EO of Grapefruit

Color of EO	Almost colorless for white Grapefruit; yellow color for pink Grapefruit and dark yellow for ruby red Grapefruit
Clarity	Clear
Viscosity	Non-Viscous and like water
Taste	Bitter, sour (tastes like the tart, bitter rind of a Grapefruit with white, rough, ridged and pebbly skin.)
Intensity of Odor 1-10 with 1= lowest	4

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment ~ Grapefruit Oil
“The peel of (Citrus paradisi Macfaden) or Grapefruit oil is cold pressed. The fresh, fruity top-note is due to p-menth-1-en-8-thiol. This component is present only in very low amounts. Grapefruit oil is sesquiterpene rich, which is unusual in citrus oils. Nootkatone is mainly responsible for the odor of the Grapefruit and contributes to the bitter flavor of the juice. Linaloöl oxides, is in many essential oils, and constitute the second most important class of compounds. Also found in the essential oil is epoxycaryophyllene, first found in Verbena oil, possesses a pleasant woody, balsamic odor. “(Scent & Fragrance by Gunther Ohloff)³

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GENERAL PROPERTIES

GRAPEFRUIT fruit and EO is for both IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application. We eat Grapefruit as food and take it as a tonic for the gall bladder. EO of pink grapefruit is sweet, warming while the white grapefruit is tart, and cooling. We use this oil as an astringent externally for skin and hair de-greaser, and inhaled for refreshment, and as a spray to disinfectant a room.

INGESTION – The juice of Grapefruit is a popular food source especially for breakfast and is effective in controlling sugar metabolism and as a slimming aid. It is a tonic for the gall bladder, and it is digestive, antioxidant and depurative. Studies have shown the pink and red varieties of Grapefruit contain higher amounts of antioxidants than the yellow or white kind.

*If you take statins or heart medication, confer with your doctor before you eat Grapefruit or drink the juice.

PHYSICAL USES & HOW USED (IG or AP) – Externally, Grapefruit oil in a blend alleviates muscle fatigue and stiffness. I use it in a facial toner for its astringency, or on acne, as it stimulates lifeless skin. Apply Grapefruit oil neat as a treatment for herpes, in applications on the body as it can aids in cellulite reduction, and fluid retention, and use it as a disinfectant.

Application ~ Astringent, antiseptic, depurative, and anti-infectious. Do not use Grapefruit oil or any citrus oil in your bath as it will burn upon contact with your lady parts. Remember essential oils float in water, and when you step into the tub, the floating oils come into contact to whatever parts of your skin they touch first.

SKINCARE FORMULA

Grapefruit & Elemi Skin Cream for Oily Skin
I like to make a simple skin cream with a few simple ingredients.
Start with ½ cup Avocado butter or Coconut oil
Add 1 oz (by volume) of Marula or Argan oil
Add 5 drops Grapefruit Oil and 5 drops Elemi Oil
Add a small scoop (1 T.) of Aloe Vera pulp (no peel)
And blend with a hand blender.
That’s it! Use once a day after cleansing.
Keep refrigerated.

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ Add to your blends for inhalation for uses as a tonic, restorative, and antidepressant.

•

EMOTIONAL/ENERGETIC USE ~ Inhaled, Grapefruit oil may relieve hangovers, headaches, mental exhaustion, anxiety and depression, and used externally or by inhalation in a blend for menstrual difficulties, such as PMS and menopause. The scent is very uplifting and antiseptic and makes for a great air freshener.

Grapefruit along with other citrus is for the 3^rd Chakra, the spleen area, it vibrates in yellow and the complementary stone is citrine. It is uplifting and calming as well.

Formula for Tattered Nerves. Use equal amounts of Bergamot, Grapefruit (white or pink) and Lemon, about 30 drops of each and to the final formula add 1 drop of Nutmeg. Succuss and apply to a hanky from which you will inhale as needed.

YOGA PRACTICE ~ Tricia Cruz has a yoga practice and uses essential oils for various purpose. One of her blends called “Clean and Clear” contains Pink Grapefruit/Rosemary (Citrus paradisi/Rosmarinus officinalis). She sprinkles this on her towel to improve focus and clarity in her practice.

• • • •

Citrus vinegar with white and pink Grapefuit peel, mandarin peel and lemon peel and white vinegar. — Citrus Vinegar with white and pink Grapefruit peel ~
1 peel of pink Grapefruit + 1 peel of white Grapefruit + 1 peel on Mandarin

•

HERBAL USES OF GRAPEFRUIT

Citrus Vinegar – An Herbal-Home Remedy
for Cleaning and Mold Removal.

I have been making this vinegar for housecleaning for over 30 years. I have written about it in my Herbal Studies Course, online and in articles. In 1990, I had to clean the smelly walls of a home where someone had lived for 30 years without repainting or cleaning. They had a septic system and rather than using toxic chemicals, I used only Citrus Grapefruit Vinegar with Rosemary Hydrosol. The walls came clean, the septic system was undamaged, and the place took on a fresh and clean odor.

TO MAKE: Purchase a gallon of the cheapest white vinegar (best to buy in glass). As you eat lemons, oranges and especially grapefruit, use only the peel (flavedo) and roll the peels up and put into the vinegar bottle. Your vinegar will get the added benefits of the antibacterial citrus peels as well as the clean citrus fragrance. It is good to start with the peel of one Grapefruit, one Orange and one Lemon – but anything will do. Try to remove as much albedo (white underside of peel) as you can. When the vinegar is all gone, the bottle will be full of peels and you can just discard them in your compost pile and recycle the bottle. You can also add 16 oz. of water to the now empty citrus/vinegar bottle and make a spray to clean small surfaces.

I use this Citrus vinegar to clean all surfaces, stoves, porcelain, wood floors, wood chopping tables, dusty woodwork, door knobs, etc. This will clean and kill mold in your bathroom, basement, attic and other closed places. It will deodorize and kill any bad odor.

~ ~ ~

You can also make a good cleanser and deodorizer by wiping the porcelain surfaces with baking soda and then adding the vinegar from your Citrus Vinegar bottle. You can keep drains clear by using baking soda and vinegar. Every two weeks pour 1-2 cups baking soda down all the drains and follow with 1 cup of plain white or citrus vinegar. Follow 2 hours later by pouring 2 quarts of boiling water down the drain. It will fizz, bubble, and keep the drains funk free and smelling good.

•

Grapefruit Seed Extract – Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) or citrus seed extract is a supplement made from the seeds and pulp of grapefruit. It’s rich in essential oils and antioxidants and has been thought to have a variety of potential health benefits. It may be a natural antibiotic, antiseptic, disinfectant and preservative. It is used to promote the healing of almost any atypical skin condition. This product does not work as some hav claim. Other experts suggest that you used 10% alcohol (95% neutral grain spirits) for preservation. There is an excellent article about Grapefruit Seed Extract at “Aspects of the antimicrobial efficacy of grapefruit seed extract and its relation to preservative substances contained. (PMID:10399191)”. It states that 6 commercially available grapefruit seed extracts were tested; 3 also contained triclosan and methyl paraben; only one of the extracts were found to contain NO preservative agent and no antimicrobial activity could be detected; that the “antimicrobial activity being attributed to grapefruit seed extract is merely due to the synthetic preservative agents contained within. Natural products with antimicrobial activity do not appear to be present”.⁶

Physiochemical Properties ~ Solubility ~ Grapefruit EOis incompletely soluble in 90% alcohol up to 10 vol. owing to the separation of its natural wax.⁵

Chemical Components of Grapefruit oil ~ D-Limonene, Gamma-Terpinene, Nootketone, Cadinene, Neral, methyl anthranilate and Citronellal. Grapefruit mercaptan, a sulfur-containing terpene, is one of the substances which has a strong influence on the taste and odor of grapefruit. Nootkatone, aka, nootketone, is a natural organic compound and is the most important and expensive aromatic of grapefruit. It is a sesquiterpene and a ketone. Nootketone was previously thought to be one of the main chemical components of the smell and flavor of grapefruits.

Grapefruit after distillation also produces a wax. Substance in the cuticle wax of the fruit which is dissolved by the oil appears during cold pressing.

Keeping Qualities of Citrus Oils ~ “Citrus oils kept in well-filled, well-stoppered, dark colored bottles and stored in a cool, dark place retain their original delicate flavor for years, but access of air or light, especially in the presence of traces of water, easily spoils citrus oils.”⁵ They oxidize, get an acid character, and piney odor and viscosity and specific gravity increase.

• • • •

Blends Best ~ Grapefruit blends with many oils including Basil, especially the non-carvacrol types; all Citrus oils and citrus smelling oils such as Clary Sage but especially Bergamot and Lemon; spicey oils such as Black Pepper, Cardamom, Clove, Coriander, Frankincense, Ginger and others; conifer oils such as Cypress and some Junipers and especially true Cedar (Cedrus atlantica); grass oils such as Citronella, Palmarosa and Vetivert, flower oils such as Chamomile and Roman Chamomile, Lavender, Neroli, Jasmine, Ylang and Rose; and herbaceous oils such as Peppermint and Rosemary (verbenone type).

“Grapefruit essential oil is quite useful in Citrus compositions and for all modifications of citrus notes in perfumery.^“It is used in the Top note in citrus and cologne blends with Bergamot to impart fresh non-green sharpness, body and tenacity.”³

White Grapefruit is a crisper ‘cooler’ scent than the pink or Ruby red Grapefruit.

5 types of Grapefruit essential oil that was cold-pressed from white Grapefruit peel, pink Grapefruit peel and ruby red Grapefruit peel — **Grapefruit oil courtesy of Eden Botanicals**

Blending with Citrus Notes ~ In the perfumery business the citrus notes impart a fresh, sparkling note to any blend. They are usually not overpowering. They are in the blends up to 25% as the base for classic types of eau de cologne and other perfumes. Citrus oils harmonize with many other essential oils and I use them in different concentrations in almost all scent blends and modern perfumes.

“In combination with Lavender oil, citrus oils are the base for English Lavender which is an 1826 creation. High concentrations of citrus oils are in Chanel No. 5 (1921). Also, of importance are the citrus oils in soda drinks like Coca-Cola and others.”³

CITRUS TOP NOTE PERFUME

Top note: 30 drops of a mixture of Grapefruit oil and Mandarin oil.
If you use the white Grapefruit or the green Mandarin your perfume will be brighter and cooler than if you use pink Grapefruit and red Mandarin.

Heart note: 20 drops of a mixture of Rose absolute and Orris root

Base note: 10 drops of Sandalwood oil and Ylang Extra

•

Remember that there are 3 kinds of Grapefruit, 3 kinds of Mandarin, 20 kinds of Rose absolute, 4 kinds of Sandalwood. Depending on which you use will result in many different scents, all pleasant but all different.

•

HYDROSOL ~ I have not yet had the opportunity to experience a Grapefruit hydrosol.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol is distilled specifically for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components, lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using the dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

Historical Uses ~ Antiseptic.

paragraph from an historical text of 1750 — **from an Historical text**

Interesting Facts ~ Some histories suggest that Grapefruit “was introduced into the West Indies from China by Captain Shaddock and the fruit was thereafter known as ‘Shaddock fruit’. In 1809 the seeds traveled with Spanish settlers to the United States. Grapefruit was in the United States commercially beginning in 1880. In many parts of the world the waste products of this and other citrus fruits are ground and used as animal fodder”¹

Jeanne Rose perfumery bottle. — **Jeanne Rose perfume bottle**

Jeanne Rose’s Grapefruit Tomato Tales EO:

I made over 25 different aromatherapy kits over the last 35 years. One of these I called, “The Woman’s Kit” and contained both Grapefruit and Clary Sage. I used the Grapefruit/Clary Sage mix as follows: Inhaled is an adrenal stimulant, eased depression, to reduce hot flashes, to help the new mother relax. It was mildly intoxicating and with Geranium was a great inhalant for menopause symptoms, to ease nervousness, and to soothe PMS symptoms. This mixture was relaxing and euphoric and with Ylang-Ylang was an excellent inhaler and application for menstrual irregularities and for ‘grounding’.

Externally applied in products, this combination regenerates skin, reduces wrinkles and when you add Rosemary oil is applied to hair roots to stimulate growth. I have used a drop or two on a moist washcloth after a bath (wiping down the body after rinsing) for health and relaxation, diluted or with Clary Sage hydrosol to spray on the face for hot skin and during hot flashes. In a massage blend it assisted in the labor process and seemed to strengthen the inner organs. I consider Grapefruit and Clary Sage to be very good for all menstrual disorders.

Internally, I occasionally used one drop in warm water as gargle for sore throat.

•

Abstract/Scientific Data ~ Nootkatone, a characteristic constituent of grapefruit, stimulates energy metabolism and prevents diet-induced obesity by activating AMPK AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a serine/threonine kinase that is implicated in the control of energy metabolism. — 2010 – physiology.org

Medicinal Importance of Grapefruit Juice. Grapefruit juice is consumed widely in today’s health conscious world as a protector against cardiovascular diseases and cancers. It has however, been found to be an inhibitor of the intestinal cytochrome P – 450 3A4 system, which is responsible for the first pass metabolism of many drugs. The P – glycoprotein pump, found in the brush border of the intestinal wall which transports many of these cytochrome P – 450 3A4 substrates, has also been implicated to be inhibited by grapefruit juice. By inhibiting these enzyme systems, grapefruit juice alters the pharmacokinetics of a variety of medications, leading to elevation of their serum concentrations.⁴

Key Use ~ Antiseptic, skin care and tonic for the gall bladder.

•

Resources ~ Many thanks to Eden Botanicals for the lovely Grapefruit oils they supplied for my organoleptic studies.

pink flesh with yellow rind of Pomelo — **pink flesh Pomelo**

References

¹Essential Aromatherapy, p. 137.
²https://www.britannica.com/plant/grapefruit
³Ohloff, Günther: SCENT AND FRAGRANCES: Springer-Verlag. 1990. Translated by Pickenhagen and Lawrence
⁴ https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-6-33
⁵Guenther: THE ESSENTIAL OILS, volume III, Citrus oils: Krieger. 1949
⁶ Aspects of the antimicrobial efficacy of grapefruit seed extract and its relation to preservative substances contained.. (PMID:10399191)

Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose. 1992
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2000
Rose, Jeanne: 375 ESSENTIAL OILS AND HYDROSOLS; Frog, Ltd. 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California:
Staff of L.H. Baily Hortorium, Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants. Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, 1976.

General Resources

• Williams, David G.: THE CHEMISTRY OF ESSENTIAL OILS: Micelle Press. 1996.

• Another Fresh Start – Lunar New Year. Leaflet, Newsletter of the Strybing Arboretum. Winter 2002, Volume 26, No. 1.

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Safety Precautions ~ “A phototoxic reaction typically shows up as an exaggerated sunburn, usually occurring within 24 hours of sun exposure” as stated by the Skin Cancer Foundation. The primary essential oil culprits are typically cold-pressed citrus oils: Bergamot, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Wild Orange, and Tangerine.

If you take statins or heart medications do not drink Grapefruit juice unless you discuss this with your medical doctor.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

OPOPANAX RESIN EO Profile

Dec17

Synopsis ~ The oleo-gum-resin of Opopanax is a ‘tear’ has no scent and can be handled like a fragile rock. There are confusing names associated with Opopanax that have to do with historical references but are clarified in the article by Jeanne Rose.

Three types of essential oil of Opopanax, with two lumps of raw resin. — **Opopanax is an oleo-gum-resin. EO courtesy of Eden Botanicals and pieces of resin**

INTRODUCTION ~ Opopanax is another of the famous resins of the Orient; see also Myrrh and Olibanum (frankincense) on my blog https://jeanne-blog.com It is an Oleo-gum-resin, a term to describe oleo (oily or fatty in nature or look) gum (partly soluble in water) resin (partly or wholly soluble in alcohol). Therefore, an oleo-gum-resin has a nature that is partly soluble in water and alcohol and partly soluble in oil and looks oily. Consists mainly of oil, gum, and resin. It is liquid as it exudes and solidifies on contact with air and can be liquefied with alcohol. Examples are Myrrh, Frankincense, and Opopanax.

EO Profile & Naming •Latin Binomial/Botanical ~ Opopanax is an ancient tree resin and many species are called Opopanax including Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens (C. opobalsamum). Species includes Commiphora erythraea, C.guidottii, C. kataf, C. glabrescens, C. holtiziana and C. pseudopaoli. Opopanax is closely related to Myrrh, they are in the same genus but different species. The common name of Opopanax is a source of confusion in pharmacognosy and books, since three different products bear this name. Thus, O. chironium (Apiaceae) is not to be confused with perfumery’s opopanax, a gum-resin obtained from Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens of the family Burseraceae. Here it is most important that you know exactly what plant you want by Latin name and then common name and not the other way around.

Family ~Burseraceae. All members of this family are resinous. This species of the genus Commiphora are thorny bushes and small trees. We are not discussing the plants called opopanax from the Umbellifer (Apiaceae) family.

Endangered or Not ~ Some species of Opopanax are listed as critically endangered.

Countries of Origin ~ The Opopanax that I most carefully studied was from Eden Botanicals. The botanical name was Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens (a synonym of Commiphora gorinii Chiov.) and the country of origin was Somalia and it was distilled in Morocco.

Naming & Etymology ~ Other Names are Bisabol Myrrh, Balm of Mecca. The term “Opopanax”, meaning “all healing juice”, is a source of confusion, since it is also used for the gum latex from several Umbellifer species, Ferula opopanax, also known as Opopanax chironium (Umbelliferae aka Apiaceae family), e.g. from Opopanax chironium (Pastinaca opopanax)(Umbelliferae). It is indigenous to the Mediterranean area. Know what you want.

There are over a 100 species of Commiphora which includes the species called Myrrh and Opopanax. There is much confusion for the consumer in this group of plants.

General description of plant, habitat & growth ~ OPOPANAX: A resin, Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens (C. opobalsamum) family (Burseraceae) Bisabol Myrrh, Balm of Mecca. This is another of the famous resins of the Orient; see also Myrrh and Olibanum (frankincense).

Etymology: The term “Opopanax”, meaning “all healing juice”, (is a source of confusion, since this word is also used for the gum latex from several Umbellifer, see above in naming. All members of this family are resinous. The genus Commiphora are thorny bushes and small trees. They are important elements of the African dry-land vegetation.

Opopanax grows in Somalia (Africa’s Horn). It is a viscous exudate obtained by breaking the twigs. It solidifies to brown lumps of a warm-balsamic and sweet, honey-like fragrance. A resinoid is prepared by solvent extraction, and steam distillation of the resin gives an essential oil. They are both used in perfumes of the Oriental type. The main constituents of Opopanax oil are sesquiterpene hydrocarbons like alpha-santalene, alpha-bergamotene, and (Z)-alpha-bisabolene. According to Arctander, the olfactory difference between Myrrh oil and Opopanax oil is the vegetable-soup-like, slightly animalic-sweet odor of Opopanax oil compared with the medicinal-sharp freshness of Myrrh oil.

In Kenya, “Hagar is oily resin exudate from the stems of Commiphora holtziana. It oozes out and hardens to form lumps of various sizes and shapes with variable color from yellow to dark brown or black. Locally, Hagar is used as acaricide against ticks, snakebites, scorpions, foot rot, mange, and other livestock ailments. Commercially, it is a well-established herbal medicine, and used in essential oils and cosmetics.²”

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods & yield ~ The resin comes from the exudation from the bark. A resinoid is prepared from the resin by solvent extraction. Steam distillation of the resin gives the essential oil, which has a pleasant, warm, sweet, balsamic odor. Quality Opopanax has to be distilled from selected raw material and that requires knowledge of the plant. Much of this oil is ruined by poor distillation by inexperienced distillers who then sell their product. Opopanax oil and resinoid are used in perfumes with oriental style. An IFRA recommendation exists.

Yield ~ About 5 kilos of resin is required to yield one kilo of Opopanax essential oil.

Organoleptic Characteristics

	Color:	Pale Yellow
	Clarity:	clear
	Viscosity:	Non-viscous
	Taste:	bitter
	Intensity of Odor:	On a scale of 1-10, it is medium, about a 6-7.

Odor Description ~ Strongly spicy, vegetative, fruity and with a sharp spicy odor and somewhat animal-like undertone.

Solubility~ Opopanax is soluble in 10 volumes of 70% alcohol and some types are hazy in 10 volumes of 90% alcohol.

Chemical Components ~ A resinoid is prepared by solvent extraction, and steam distillation of the resin gives an essential oil. They are both used in perfumes of the Oriental type.

The main constituents of Opopanax oil are sesquiterpene hydrocarbons like alpha-santalene, alpha-bergamotene, and (Z)-alpha-bisabolene. According to Arctander, the olfactory difference between Myrrh oil and Opopanax oil is the vegetable-soup-like, slightly animalic-sweet odor of Opopanax oil compared with the medicinal-sharp freshness of myrrh.

GENERAL PROPERTIES OF OPOPANAX

Opopanax has been used in the past as an antispasmodic and when taken internally able to clear or open the natural ducts of the fluids and secretions of the body as an aperient.

Physical Uses & How used (AP) ~ Application ~ C. erythraea gums have been used for centuries in folk medicine for the treatment of cuts, bruises.

Extract of the gum of Commiphora erythraea Engler (Burseraceae), has larvicidal and repellent activity against the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.) and the American dog tick³

Emotional/Energetic Uses (AP or IN) ~ As with any of the resins they are often used by inhalation for calming and centering, to begin or end a ritual, or to modify another scent or in worship and purification.

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ Since Opopanax oil is from a resinous material it can be diffused by using a FanFuser on the scent disc but not from a glass enclosed diffuser — as the resin will clog the diffuser. The scent should be used as an accessory odor not the primary odor.

It is burned or inhaled in ritual for protection, for calming, for adding to another odor to make it more powerful, for cleansing and purification.

BLENDING &PERFUMERY ~ Its [Opopanax] power and ‘growth’ in a perfume is often underestimated; unless perfectly balanced with modifying and supporting materials, Opopanax oil has a tendency of ‘showing up’ in a rather unattractive manner after a short ageing period of the perfume. It blends well with “woody and heavy floral perfume bases, chypre, fougére-fern, leather and Oriental bases.”— Arctander.

“Used in perfumery industries, the essential oils prepared from the resins are well known. The essential oil of C. erythraea var. glabrescens, known as “opopanax”, is used in perfume of the Oriental type. The term “opopanax” is a source of confusion, since it is often used for the oil of different Commiphora genera, and for the gum latex oil of some Umbelliferae, for example Opopanax chironium.”¹

As with other resins, Opopanax is used in perfumery as a fixative and for its quiet balsamic note and often used in the base note for exotic scents.

Opopanax blends well with Bergamot, Conifer needle oils, Coriander seed, fern scents, Labdanum, leather scents, Clary Sage and Patchouli.

HYDROSOL ~ I have not as yet ever experienced an Opopanax hydrosol.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, and by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh to extract as much cellular water of the plant as possible.

Key Use~ Mainly natural Botanical Perfumery

Historical Uses ~ The original Opopanax that is discussed historically is the Umbellifer type and this might have been used in embalming. It is erroneously thought that the Opopanax we use at this time from family Burseraceae had the same use — however, this is not true.

Interesting Facts ~ Some aspects of the Opopanax may be used in the flavoring industry.

Science article ~ Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Commiphora erythraea, 2009 • The essential oil composition of Commiphora erythraea (Ehrenb) Engl. is reported for the first time. The oil is rich in sesquiterpenes, particularly furanosesquiterpenes (50.3%). GC-MS analysis of the oil permitted differentiation between C. erythraea and C. kataf, two often confused species.

References:

¹Marcotullio, Maria Carla * and etc. Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Commiphora erythraea. 2009
²Francis N. Gachathi, and Siri Eriksen. Gums and resins: The potential for supporting sustainable adaptation in Kenya’s drylands.
³An extract of Commiphora erythraea: a repellent and toxicant against ticks, J.F.Carroll , A.Maradufu , J.D. Warthen Jr., December 1989, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1570-7458.1989.tb01294

Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of NaturalOrigin. Elizabeth, NJ. 1960
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publ. Malabar, FL 1972
Langenheim, Jean H. Plant Resins. Timber Press, Portland.2003. This is the best book on the subject
Mabberley, D.J., Mabberley’s Plant Book, 2008 ThirdEdition with 2014 updates, Cambridge University Press
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book

Use the essential oils in moderation.

Use the herb tea or resin when it is more appropriate.
Irritants: There is a moderate risk of skin sensitization, avoid use on hypersensitive, or damaged skin and on children less than 10 years of age; a maximum dermal use level of 0.6% is recommended. Dilute before using. Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.

Note: I would normally have underlined the word Opopanax so that wherever you see it you will be aware of which plant I am talking about. However, I was unable to do so with this blog post. I always try to capitalize the name of the herb or essential oil so that you will know I am speaking of the plant and not that particular color or taste.

Comments: I want to thank Eden Botanicals for their ongoing assistance to provide the new essential oils for these essential oil blog posts as well as their support to provide better information for the entire aromatherapy community.

Moderation in All Things.
Be moderate in your use of essential oils as they are just not sustainable for the environment.
Be selective and more moderate in your usage.
Use the herb first as tea or the infusion. —JeanneRose 2014

Labdanum/Cistus Resin_EO_Hydrosol

Jun24

Synopsis ~ Labdanum and Cistus are not the same, but they come from the same plant and both have important use in perfumery – both with a luscious fragrant rich scent. This profile provides a detailed description with growth, description, chemistry, odor and uses.

LABDANUM/Cistus Resin & EO/Hydrosol Profile
By Jeanne Rose ~ July 2018

Cistus ladanifer – the plant that produces Cistus oil and Labdanum resin

INTRODUCTION: Labdanum and Cistus. This plain plant with its wondrous resin has been one of my favorites since I first learned of it back in 1969. I knew of Cistus as a plant growing in the San Francisco Arboretum but here in San Francisco it has very little odor as it doesn’t get hot enough. One day, some time ago, in June when it was clear, sunny and very hot I rubbed the leaves and they were sticky and fragrant. That is when I began to study it in my antiquarian herbals, one of which I had acquired back in 1970 (Dioscorides). How can anyone ignore a plant that was once harvested from the wool of goats?

COMMON NAME/LATIN BINOMIAL: CISTUS and LABDANUM are two products of the Cistus ladanifer (syn. ladaniferous) plant. Cistus is the essential oil distilled from the leaves and twigs of the same plant that produces the resin called Labdanum that is scraped from the leaves. Other Cistus species that are also used for Cistus EO and Labdanum resin include Cistus creticus and the subspecies incanus).

Family: Cistaceae is a family of perennial shrubs, flowering plants, found on dry and rocky soil with about 20 species.

Other Common Name/Naming Information: Cistus is from the Greek and simply means Rock rose because they frequent rocky-places, and this is a common name that is given to several other species of plants as well. The common Greek name is simply ladan. Cistus ladanifer is also called the gum Rockrose and the resin also called Ladanum.

Naming misinformation: Some people misspell and misuse the word Laudanum for Labdanum. Laudanum (a ‘u’ not a ‘b’) is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Reddish-brown and extremely bitter. Labdanum (with a ‘b’ not a ‘u’) is the resin from the plant Cistus.

COUNTRIES OF ORIGINS: Portugal, Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location: Spain and my Cistus hydrosol is from Portugal.

ENDANGERED OR NOT: On the list of threatened plants.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PLANT HABITAT AND GROWTH: Cistus ladanifer is an evergreen shrub and grows quickly to a height of about 5 feet and 3+ feet wide. They are thermophilous plants, meaning heat-loving and which require open, sunny places. It likes dry granitic hills with sandy well-drained soil and can tolerate heat, drought and sea exposure. It flowers in June, and though the flowers have both male and female parts, it is self-incompatible as the pollen can germinate and obstruct the stigma. Some books suggest that it is self-fertile. The plant is bee-pollinated. The flowers are white or pink with a simple structure. Cistus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some butterfly species. The petals are papery and crumpled, most commonly pure white, with numerous bright yellow stamens in the center and there is also a form which has a dark purple or crimson blotch at the base of each petal. The leaves are elongated and covered with glandular trichomes that secrete a viscous gummy balsam that exudes when it is hot. Because of the content of pinene, the plant is quite flammable, possibly can self-ignite, and is responsible for some serious fires. Spain is a leading producer of Labdanum.

PORTION OF PLANT USED IN DISTILLATION, HOW DISTILLED, EXTRACTION METHODS AND YIELDS:

There are four Labdanum products of the Cistus plant + one Cistus steam-distillate from the leaves and twigs: the gum collected from the leaves and twigs during the hottest time of the year; the resinoid produced by treating the gum with hot alcohol and concentrating it; the EO collected from the steam-distillation of the crude gum; and the concrete and absolute of Labdanum which are extracted by volatile solvents.

Labdanum resin is obtained by collecting and boiling the twigs in the spring and early summer, skimming off the resin as it comes to the surface. “Labdanum Absolute is obtained by solvent extraction of the resin – and is very much different in scent and color and viscosity from steam distilled Cistus essential oil from the leaves. The changing climate conditions, such as chilly early springs with very high summer temperatures, is contributing to lower yields, has reduced chemical complexity and increased the costs for the growers/collectors. However, both Labdanum and Cistus extractions result in intense, powerful aromas, used in very low percentages.” Yield: 0.1% – 0.2%

For Cistus essential oil, direct steam distillation of the young twigs and leaves produces the traditional quality essential oil of Spanish Cistus. The distillation yield is very low, only around 0.1% of the fresh plant.
Yield: Results are discussed from 0.1% to 0.3%.

ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS:

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment:

Cistus EO has a peculiar, warm, fruity-floral scent, herbaceous and notes of moss, camphor, powder and leather-hay odor that is intense but less tenacious than Labdanum and is used with Lavender in spicy men’s products.

_____Labdanum has a rich, tenacious, but not intense odor of sweetness, smoky-woody, leather, powder, earthy-moss, with back notes of honey-animalic, floral with fruity overtones. It is an odor loved by me, by many and extraordinarily useful in many types of perfume application. It recalls the odor of ambergris and is in fact used as a vegetable substitute for ambergris in a perfume base note or as a fixative. The odor is tenacious in a blend but not intense, it lends a subtle richness to any perfume you use it in.

GENERAL PROPERTIES

Labdanum was historically known and used in herbal medicine for 1000s of years and is still used in the preparation of perfume. Cistus is considered antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-arthritic.

Cistus essential oil distilled from the leaves and twigs is considered a wound healer and as with most essential oils it has antiviral and antibacterial properties. Inhale the oil for a possible boost to the immune system and to reduce colds and infections resulting from the flu.

Cistus EO in the Arctander book

Labdanum is the sticky brown resin obtained from the shrubs Cistus ladanifer (western Mediterranean) and Cistus creticus (eastern Mediterranean), species of rockrose. It has a long history of use in herbal medicine and as a perfume ingredient.

Properties and Uses:

Cistus leaf tea is useful for children illness such as whooping cough and for adults for general all-over body inflammation.

Cistus tea is used as a treatment for Lyme Disease. The conclusion of the study, showed that to date, clinical work with wild harvested pure Sardinian Cistus tea and whole leaf Stevia is the least invasive yet most effective treatment for Lyme disease and many other modern chronic illnesses, caused by persistent and hidden infections. For more information read “Dr. Klinghardt Biological Lyme Protocol” at the Klinghardt Institute page. See the entire article at https://kiscience.com/sardinian-cistus-incanus/

Application/Skincare Uses: Cistus EO and tea has great application in skin care, particularly oily skin, acne skin and irritated skin. Use it in your lotions, other creams and clay masks using white clay. It is used for mature skin, wrinkles and the EO as an inhalant for coughs and bronchitis.

Cistus Anti-Wrinkle Lotion, a recipe by Jeanne Rose

I like to purchase an 8-oz bottle of pre-made unscented lotion with organically grown ingredients and then add my own special additions. If the lotion is thick I will thin it with some Rosemary or Cistus hydrosol until it is the texture that I like. Then I add 5 drops of Cistus EO to an ounce of my thinned lotion. I add the drops and with a long narrow thin wooden spoon, I stir in the EO, stirring around and around, up and down, figure 8 round and round. This is a sing-song that I do until the EO and hydrosol is thoroughly incorporated into the lotion. I only make an ounce at a time as it is easy to do and keeps the balance of the lotion fresh to make something else with. I apply this Cistus Lotion alternately with the Elemi/Galbanum Lotion every evening before bed.
https://jeanne-blog.com/elemi-resin-herb-eo/

• • •

Emotional/Energetic Uses (AP or IN): Labdanum is used by inhalation and is considered to have a powerful ability to bring up past lives and past or buried memories. It is very helpful in ritual work.

Diffuse/Diffusion: Do not diffuse Labdanum as it is a sticky resin and even the steam-distilled product has the ability to gum up your diffusor. I suggest that you learn to use this substance in other ways and use the Labdanum and the Cistus essential oil in your perfumes.

HYDROSOL USES ~ Cistus hydrosol is available and just a wonderful product to use. It is bright and fresh and cleansing to the skin. I get mine from “Naturalness” in Portugal and it is available through them. This wonderful product is harvested using the stems and the leaves in the early morning until noon using pure gravity supplied water from a stream and steam-distillation. Use it as a spray after putting on make-up to set it, or on your clothes that have been crushed in a suitcase to freshen them or on the pillows before sleep. You can also carry it in your purse to spray on utensils before you use them and on hair or hands to refresh them. I am particularly fond of Cistus hydrosol.

The distiller recommends it : Cistus hydrosol is a powerful but gentle astringent. It is used as a daily toner for extremely oily, acne-prone, or irritated skin. For dry skin, only use as a 20% solution with other hydrosols or distilled water.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

HERBAL USES ~ “The use of the Cistus incanus has a long history and can be traced back to the 4th century BC. In the Middle East, northern Africa and the European Mediterranean region the Cistus incanus was enjoyed as a wellness tea for breakfast and indeed right throughout the day as a drink for relaxing after a strenuous day. When guests arrived, it was common to offer a freshly boiled pot of the Cistus tea. “The knowledge of the benefits of this tea were passed on late into the middle Ages.”³

See above for reference to the use of Cistus leaf tea as a treatment for Lyme disease.

JEANNE ROSE’S TOMATO TALES

A Personal Story of Labdanum

Labdanum resin/resinoid/absolute/EO is a favorite of mine and when I teach Perfumery classes I encourage the students to use my absolute that dates back to 1969. We make an old perfume called Chypre in the class. See formulas at the end and read my Natural Perfumery booklet.

Years ago, about 1970, I made a mixture of Labdanum resin that I had read in an old herbal that also used Benzoin and Storax with Civet, spike Lavender and spices. It was to be inhaled to ‘comforte the brain’. It looked interesting and certainly doable and whose brain does not need a certain amount of comforting. I found it was like playing with mud and very messy. I wrote about this in my first book, Herbs & Things, and if you want to try it, there are two recipes on pages 153-154.

These raw resins can stick almost permanently to everything. If you make it … “keep one mortar and pestle aside just for this type of recipe or for any recipe that calls for the heating of ‘beating’ of a resin. It was nearly impossible to roll the combination into a ball especially with the stinky civet, so I finally dipped my hands into the powdered Benzoin and Storax (sort of like dipping your hands into flour to roll out bread or cookie dough) and rolled the resin around. This gooey mess stuck very tenaciously to my hands and it took two days to wash it all off, but at least now I had a ball of resin. I then pierced the ball with a bodkin (big blunt needle with big eye) and hung it from a string.

It immediately oozed away from the string, plopped to the ground, and proceeded to ooze amoebically about the floor, peeling up paint as it went. It was then that I finally realized the exact nature of this pomander. It was and is ever-flowing and takes on the shape of whatever object it is on or in. I captured the now pancake-shaped resin, rolled more Storax into it and put in on the ledge above a window. Within a day it had migrated off the shelf and down the wall. It smelled deliciously but it left a trail of black resin (rather like the slime trail of a snail). Again, I captured it and this time rolled it up and stuck it in the freezer, to freeze. After thinking about it for some time I let it out of the freezer and put it immediately into a small black leather bag. We call it the Mental-Health Bag. The more you massage the bag, the more it smells, the better you feel, and the more powerful and tranquilizing its effect on the brain.”¹ — Herbs & Things.

And I still have this fragrant Bag of Mental Health creeping around after 47 years.

Chemical Components: Comparison of Main Components: “The main components were α‐pinene (39%), viridiflorol (11.8%), ledol (3.3%) and bornyl acetate (3.1%). The occurrence of cyclosativene, γ‐cadinene, (E)‐β‐farnesene and β‐eudesmol in the essential oil of Cistus ladaniferus is reported here for the first time. Then, in order to study the chemical variability of individual oils, 20 samples were examined. α‐Pinene (11.1–47.4%) was the most abundant component in 18 of the 20 samples, followed by trans‐pinocarveol (4.4–10.9%) and viridiflorol (4.7–10.7%). Two samples exhibited a different chemical composition, not as yet described, characterized by the predominance of viridiflorol (20–22.6%), ledol (6.4–6.7%) and trans‐pinocarveol (5.4–8.6%).” © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. — Composition of the Essential Oil of Cistus ladaniferus L. Cultivated in Corsica (France) by J. P. Mariotti , F. Tomi , J. Casanova , J. Costa , A. F. Bernardini , First published: 28 April 1999

Jeanne Rose collection of Cistus & Labdanum from 1972 to the present

HISTORY ~ The plant has been known since ancient times and has been described by Dioscorides, Herodotus and Pliny. Dioscorides says, “Now, that which we call Ladanum, is made of this plant. For the Hee goats, & shee goates, feeding on the leaues hereof, doe manifestly beare away the fatnesse of them on their beards and on their thighs, because it is of a viscous nature, which taken off thence they straine, & hauing fashioned them into little balls, lay them vp in store.”⁴

In ancient times, labdanum gum from Cistus creticus, a close relative of the species Cistus ladanifer – the only one used today – was collected in Crete in two ways: “Pliny says that the gum was harvested by combing the coats of goats that grazed in the cistus-covered hillsides; and later it was collected by thrashing the branches of the cistus plants with a leather strap and then scraping that strap with a knife. Cistus’ glutinous properties made these forms of harvesting possible. Today, most cistus production takes place in Spain, where the leafy branches are collected using a sickle before being processed.”²But this may be where its history of being ‘leather scented’ comes from.

“In ancient Egypt, the false goat-hair beards of the pharaohs were impregnated with labdanum to surround these men with an impressive aura of distinction. The Cypriotes mixed Labdanum with Styrax and Calamus oil, thereby creating an early masterpiece of perfumery. The Crusaders, when they conquered the island, became so enthusiastic about the fragrance that they brought the recipe to the rest of Europe. It was known as the ‘Chypre’-theme, it is still employed in modern perfumery.”

Cistus creticus, has a subspecies, C. incanus , and is thought to be the ‘myrrh’ of Genesis. The resin of both are obtained by boiling twigs and skimming the resin from the surface of the water. —Mabberly.

NATURAL PERFUMERY

Labdanum is a sticky brown resin obtained from the shrubs Cistus ladanifer (western Mediterranean) and Cistus creticus (eastern Mediterranean), species of rockrose. It has a long history of use in herbal medicine and as a perfume ingredient. Labdanum is a powerful fixative in perfumery and is valued as a substitute to replace ambergris.

Modern uses –Labdanum is produced today mainly for the perfume industry. The raw resin is usually extracted by boiling the leaves and twigs. An absolute is also obtained by solvent extraction. An essential oil is produced by steam distillation.

The raw gum is a dark brown, fragrant mass containing up to 20% or more of water. It is plastic but not pourable and becomes brittle with age. The absolute is dark amber-green and very thick at room temperature. The fragrance more refined than the raw resin. The odor is very rich, complex and tenacious. Labdanum is much valued in perfumery because of its resemblance to ambergris.

In order to distinguish between Labdanum Absolute (which is usually the absolute from concrete extract of the plant material) and Labdanum Gum Absolute, the suppliers have resorted to using various odd names for their products. These products should have at least one thing in common: alcohol solubility. Labdanum Resin Absolute is a fairly logical designation for the alcoholic extract of crude Labdanum gum. In other words, it is an alcohol resinoid of Labdanum, prepared in a one-step hot or cold extraction. This product is also the cheapest of all the available alcohol soluble and generally applicable Labdanum extracts. Blends well with citrus oils.

To use the thick gum or the absolute in perfumery, it is most useful to dilute it 50•50 by volume with 95% neutral spirits (I prefer 95% neutral grape spirits). It will slowly dissolve in the alcohol, especially if kept warm or over a warm water bath. Always watch what you are doing and do not leave or abandon any warming resin in alcohol — that will surely be the time that something negative will happen.

Blends Best with: Labdanum – abs … The concrete is alcohol extracted to obtain the absolute. It is semi-solid soft and sticky green colored substance. It needs to be diluted in (grape spirits) alcohol to be used. The scent is balsam, herbal and spicy resin, warm and rich. Works well with citrus, Lavender bases, green and conifer scents. There are many types of absolute: from concrete, from resinoids. Labdanum 50•50 is Labdanum diluted 50% with neutral spirits. Various types of essential oil are produced by the steam-distillation of the leaves, twig and are usually called Cistus EO.

BLENDING

Galbanum & Labdanum/Cistus Base Accord

Dilute each of your Galbanum and Labdanum 50•50 with neutral grape spirits.
Let the above age and meld for a week.
Take 12 drops of Galbanum (50•50) and 12 drops of (50•50) Labdanum (and Cistus if you wish) and mix together. Age it for 1-week. Smell and experience.
After it ages, you can add equal amount of grape spirits to make a 25% pure scent base. Give it a name that you will remember.

A CHYPRE PERFUME

A Simple Chypre Perfume is made as follows:

5 drops of Bergamot + 5 drops White Grapefruit + 5 drops of Clary Sage with sclareol

1 drop of Oakmoss dissolved in several drops of alcohol

5 drops of Patchouli + 2 drops of Rose + 1 drop of Neroli

3 drops of Labdanum (pre-dilute in alcohol or purchase the Eden Botanicals Clear + 3 drops Atlas Cedarwood

The total equals 30 drops. Age this for at least 2 weeks (maybe more) and then add 90 drops of alcohol (95%) and age again for 3 weeks before you decide to do or not do anything else.

Equals 4 ml of finished scent at 25% perfume ingredients by volume.

INTERESTING INFORMATION: The Ladanesterion or lambadistrion is the tool made of leather leads used to comb out the Labdanum from the Cistus plant. It was described Pedanios Dioscorides in the 1^st century AC. It was also described by the French botanist, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, in his travel in Crete in 1700. The tool today has been replaced with plastic.

Abstract/Scientific Data: Anti-Dengue Virus Activity of the Oleoresin Labdanum of Cistus creticus.

During the epidemics of the mediaeval period, doctors in Byzantium and Italy developed the “Alipta muscata” as a preventive medicine against epidemics. When treating the “black death” doctors constantly used it for self-medication. The main ingredient of “Alipta muscata” was the oleoresin labdanum of Cistus creticus L. [1]. While the “black death” is mostly interpreted as Yersinia pestis, there is also an alternative interpretation as a viral hemorrhagic fever [2]. We tested several extracts and fractions of labdanum on their activity against the dengue virus (DENV-2 strain 00st-22A) in in vitro cultures on Vero cells (96-well-plates, 5 days). This haemorrhagic fever affects up to 500 million patients annually with no chemotherapeutic agent available and causes 20.000 deaths. Preliminary experiments with a labdanum full extract did not yield measurable results due to cytotoxic effects against Vero cells. In all following experiments, cell viability was constantly checked using the MTT-test. Fractionation of the dichloromethane raw-extract by liquid-liquid-extraction and column-chromatography on silica-gel (gradient elution with Hexane, EtOAc, CHCl₃, MeOH) succeeded in separating the anti-viral activity of labdanum from its cytotoxic effect. In the most active fraction GS5 at 30 µg/ml, the dengue virus proliferation was 100% suppressed and cell viability over 90%. Structural elucidation of major constituents of GS5 is currently ongoing. Claims concerning the antiviral activity of above ground parts of C. creticus have been made previously, but these generally ascribe this activity to hot water soluble polyphenols and propose an unspecific tanning effect of the viral surface proteins as the mechanism of action [3]. We describe an antiviral activity of a dichloromethane extract of labdanum against a virulent hemorrhagic fever like dengue for the first time.

— https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0037-1608551

KEY USE: The Oil of Perfumery

REFERENCES:
¹Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things. Only available from jeannerose.net with coil binding.
²http://www.albertvieille.com/en/products/86-labdanum-resinoid-spain.html
³http://labdanum-creta.blogspot.com/2010/04/cistus-incanus-power-of-rock-rose-menu.html
⁴ Greek Herbal of Dioscorides. Hafner Publishing Company. 1933 from the great work of first century A.D.
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Elizabeth, NJ. 1960
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Volume VI. Reprint 1972.
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose .2015 edition. San Francisco, California
http://www.andalucia.com/environment/wildflowers/the-gum-cistu
Langenheim, Jean H. Plant Resins. Timber Press. 2003
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Pliny. Plinie’s Natural History. My copy is dated 1601.
Poucher, William A. Perfumes and Cosmetics. Van Nostrand Company. 1923
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. North Atlantic Books. 2000
Rose, Jeanne. Natural Botanical Perfumery. JeanneRose.com. 2002

Sustainability: These items may not be sustainable in the amounts that are being used.

Endangered or not: Some of these plants are considered to be threatened and/or endangered due to heavy usage, people moving into the areas where they live and by over-tapping.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most resinous oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapists suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

Irritants: Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

Labdanum Limerick

Labdanum is a resin that oozes
Diluted it works on your bruises
Cistus the leaf
Is good on beef
And in perfumery it always amuses.

—JeanneRose2018

Odor Profile of Labdanum resinoid diluted 50•50 with 95% grape alcohol

FENNEL SEED Herb/EO/Hydrosol Profile

Nov28

Synopsis: Fennel is an herb that is used in many ways, root in the kitchen, seed in the herbal formulary, pollen to make flavorful seasonings.

FENNEL SEED HERB/EO/HYDROSOL PROFILE

By Jeanne Rose ~ November 2017

Common Name/Latin Binomial ~ Fennel seed oil (Foeniculum vulgare) of the Family Apiaceae. A Mediterranean plant that is cultivated worldwide for food and medicine. It is mainly the oil of sweet Fennel seed or Roman Fennel seed that is steam-distilled while Guenther mentions an oil of Bitter Fennel seed that is cultivated and distilled in Romania and Russia but in other countries as well.

Countries of Origins ~ It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become naturalized world-wide.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location ~ wild grown or cultivated in Egypt.

General description of Plant habitat and growth ~ A biennial or perennial herb up to six feet tall. Very pretty when given water, it has feathery leaves and a flower head that produces yellow pollen that has much use in culinary world. There are two varieties — Florence fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Azoricum Group; syn. F. vulgare var. azoricum) also called finocchio and is a cultivar group with inflated leaf bases which form a bulb-like structure that is a delicious edible and the other a highly aromatic and flavorful herb used both culinary and medicinally. Oil of Fennel is considered to be one of the most important all-around flavoring agents.

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields ~ 800 pounds of seed can be produced per acre, dried and then is crushed or comminuted and then steam-distilled immediately for the essential oil.
Yield is 2 ½ to 5% depending on the quality of the seed.

Endangered or Not ~ Not at this time. Fennel is used as a food plant by the larvae of some butterfly species swallowtail and in North America it may be used by the anise swallowtail.

SUSTAINABILITY ~ Essential oils are just not sustainable for the environment in the amounts that we are now using. In my own lifetime, I have seen many oils be overused and then go out of use as they were not being replanted. Be selective in your usage of the plants essential oil. Be moderate. Often, the herbal use is preferred over the essential use.

Organoleptic Characteristics ~
Color –colorless to pale, pale yellow
Clarity – clear
Viscosity – non-viscous
Intensity of odor – 4-5, depending on where harvested [the scale is 1-10]

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment ~ The oil is pale, clear, gold colored and with sweet, honey and herbal licorice notes.

The sweet Fennel from Eden Botanicals is described as “very sweet-scented, anise/licorice-like, herbaceous and slightly camphoraceous and somewhat citrus back note, with earthy, peppery undertones; more intense and sharp than their organically grown Sweet Fennel –which is described the same but not as sharp as the conventional Sweet Fennel”.

GENERAL PROPERTIES

Properties and Uses ~ The herb or seed tea is a mild carminative and the essential oil is a popular extract (diluted in alcohol) to flavor food. In this case it is often the herb tea that has the best medicinal benefits although the essential oil is used by inhalation for scent, relaxing the breathing, and helping lactation.

Application/ Skincare ~ Eating Fennel and adding the EO to a cream is considered to reduce hairiness or hirsutism. The cream was better than a placebo at 2%. (see Science Direct article in References).

SPA’s also use Fennel EO with herbs and other essential oils such as Star Anise and Sandalwood to make body scrub, skin-softening body mask, and facials and massage oils that will soothe sore joints, alleviate skin issues and warm the body. You can make these at home using unscented scrubs and masks to which you add your own essential oils.

Body Scrub.
70% by weight sugar, gritty sugar like Turbinado
30 % by weight oil such as Calendula Infused oil or any vegetable oil.
2% by weight of essential oils
This translates to about 1 cup of a nice gritty sugar like Turbinado + ½ oz. by volume of carrier oil (or more if needed) and 10 drops of essential oil blend (I have used 3 d. Fennel + 3 d. Star Anise + 4 d. Sandalwood).

‘Magical’ Fennel Seed Eyewash

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) seeds are used in eyewash formulations. I discovered that a simple combination of Fennel seed and Comfrey root was effective where the other usually recommended herbs had not been in sty eye or eye stress or any eye irritation. This remedy has been previously discussed in much of my work, as it is really quite powerful in its uses. It can be used on any eye problem, for any first aid problem, and should be kept freshly made in the refrigerator at all times. Make a decoction by simply taking 1 t. of Fennel seeds and 1 t. of cut & sifted Comfrey root and put into a small pot with ½ cup of water. Bring to a boil and simmer 2-3 minutes, turn off heat and cool. Strain carefully through silk or tight muslin. Wash eyes using an eyecup. Store excess in refrigerator. Use 2-3 times per day. Replace with new decoction every 3 days. [this is a living herbal formula and will grow bacteria, so make it, use it, replace it, every 3 days]. (from Jeanne Rose Herbal Studies Course and more)

WEAK EYES COMPRESS
Steep 1 teaspoon of crushed Fennel seeds in 1/2 cup of Witch Hazel extract (the kind that you buy in a drugstore) for 1 week. Strain, bottle, and label. Use this as a compress when your eyes are tired, or dilute 1 teaspoon with an equal amount of water and use this to wash the eyes. Alternatively, compress with Witch Hazel hydrosol. (you may substitute Witch Hazel hydrosol, but since this has no alcohol to preserve, it too will need to be remade every 3 days).

Fennel seed and Licorice root, together, as a tea will quickly aid digestion, ease the overfed digestive system, and cure flatulence. When I was pregnant in 1973, I used Fennel Seed tea with other herbs as a lactogogue. It was quite successful.

Diffuse/Diffusion ~ I have never had the desire to use Fennel oil in a diffuser. If you wish to try it, first dilute with other EO such as Lemon and Lavender as the Fennel scent is very penetrating.

Jeanne Rose’s experience with this EO: In 1977, this oil was about $1.77 per ounce in 2017 it is about $10.00 per ounce.

Emotional/Energetic/Ritual Use ~ Fennel seed has a long and interesting ritual use. Scott Cunningham wrote about it often and mentioned that the fresh stalks were woven into chaplets with were used to crown Greek athletes. Fennel is one of the nine plants invoked in the Anglo-Saxon Pagan Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in the 10th century. The other herbs being Mugwort, Mayweed, Thyme, Lamb’s Cress, Cockspur grass, Plantain, Nettle, and Crab-Apple. Cunningham mentions that the scent of the fresh seeds is thought to increase life-span, to produce courage, and to purify the inner self.

Culinary/Herbal Use ~ There is plenty to love about Fennel seed in foods and medicine. It has a nice licorice-like taste and seasons breads, bakery goods, and many foods. I am currently madly in love with the pollen that drops from the ripened heads and use it in a recipe called “Fennel Pollen Encrusted Salmon”. Dredge the salmon in the pollen with salt and pepper and corn meal, place in a shallow pan with olive oil and gently roast over a low flame until the salmon is cooked and the outside is nicely browned.

Fennel pollen

The herb and its pollen is very popular in foods, breads and pastries. Grieve says that Fennel is one of the most important spices in Kashmiri Pandit and Gujarati cooking.

Culinary Use of EO: Perfumer & Flavorist Magazine states that “the sweet, anisic notes of this EO make it a useful addition to soda flavors like root beer, cola, cream soda and ginger ales. Sweet spice flavors and blends can be applied, including those for gingerbread, anise, pepper, cinnamon, clove and Italian sausage. Other flavors where this material will add sweetness and depth are cherry, mint, licorice, vanilla and those for cordials like ouzo, absinthe, anisette, etc.”

Chemical Components: The chemistry depends upon the plant variety used and whether it is the herb or the seed that is distilled. The primary component for seed is delta-alpha-pinene, anethole and fenchone and Guenther mentions also phellandrene and limonene.

BLENDS ~ Add drop by drop to your blends, succuss after each addition and carefully smell the blend before adding more Fennel seed EO, until the desired effect is achieved. Fennel seed oil is not much used in perfumery.

Blends Well ~ Basil, Cardamom, Clary Sage, Coriander, Rose Geranium, Lavender, most Citrus oils, Rose, Rosemary and Sandalwoods.

HYDROSOL ~ The hydrosol is very fragrant and I like to use it in the bath and on foods. It is useful as a digestive (use 1 t. per glass of water) and has other uses as well.
Harman shows the GC/MS of the hydro-distilled hydrosol to be mainly Estragol (60 mg/L), Fenchone (52 mg/L), Anisaldehyde (24 mg/L) and other components such as cinnamon aldehyde, cineole, and more. Become a member of the Circle H Institute to get the full values and more information on the hydrosol.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

HISTORICAL USE ~ According to the Greek legend of Prometheus, Fennel was thought to have bestowed immortality. Fennel seeds are a common cooking spice, particularly for use with fish. After meals, they are used in several cultures to prevent gas and upset stomach. Fennel has also been used as a remedy for cough and colic in infants. _{http://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hn-2089002}

A Modern Herbal by Grieve states that Fennel was well known to the Ancients and was cultivated by the ancient Romans for its aromatic fruits and succulent, edible shoots. Pliny had much faith in its medicinal properties, according no less than twenty-two remedies to it, observing also that serpents eat it ‘when they cast their old skins, and they sharpen their sight with the juice by rubbing against the plant.’

Interesting Information ~ In addition to its medicinal uses, aerial parts, namely, leaf, stem, and fruit/seed of F. vulgare, are extensively used as galactagogue not only for increasing the quantity and quality of milk but also for improving the milk flow of breastfeeding mothers. From ancient times, Fennel seeds have been used as an ingredient for removing any foul smell of the mouth. The natural light green dye obtained from leaves is used in cosmetics, for coloring of textiles/wooden materials and as food colorant. — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4137549/

Contraindications ~ Tisserand recommends “We advise the use of Sweet Fennel for short periods of time and only when highly diluted – while it is safe and effective when properly administered, it should be avoided by those who are pregnant/breastfeeding, who have endometriosis, estrogen-dependent cancers, who take certain medications (diabetic, anti-coagulant, hormone replacement), who have peptic ulcers, hemophilia, other bleeding disorders, or who have had major surgery, and by children under five years of age (including herbal fennel tea).”

Key Use~ Digestive and to flavor liqueurs

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

References:
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Arctander. 1960
Circle H Institute at https://circlehinstitute.com/gcms-analyses/
Cunningham, Scott. Magical Aromatherapy. Llewellyn Publications, 1989.
Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal: the …Properties, …with their Uses. Brace & Company, Harcourt, 1931
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publishing. Florida. 1976
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol. IAG Botanics. 2015 (supporter of testing hydrosols)
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California
Perfumery & Flavorist. Vol. 42, June 2017
Tisserand, R. and Rodney Young. Essential Oil Safety, 2^nd ed., 2014, pp. 277-8.
http://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hn-2089002
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4137549/
Antihirsutism activity of Fennel (fruits of Foeniculum vulgare) extract. Phytomedicine, vol. 10, 6-7, 2003. P. 455-458

Fennel from an old herbal

Fennel – 40-year history with seed and pollen
Fennel EO 2000; Fennel seed 2017; Manheimer Fennel EO 1977; Eden Botanicals EO 2017;
Fennel Pollen & cut Fennel tops

~ JR ~

Clove EO/Herb Profile & Information

Nov14

Synopsis ~ Cloves are flower buds used as spice for 2000 years and have properties and uses beyond food — to support the health of your body; includes aromatherapy information and safety tips.

CLOVE EO Profile & Information

Name of Oil and Naming and Family ~ Clove Oil from bud, leaf and stem oil is also called Oil of Clove, an essential oil extracted from the Clove plant. Normally, the Clove oil is best known as water-distilled from the immature flower buds called Clove buds. This is the sun-dried, unopened flower buds of the Clove tree, Syzygium aromaticum from Indonesia and other locations.

“The earliest written mention of cloves is in writings from the Han dynasty in China (207 BC to AD 220) which tell how officers of the court were made to hold cloves in their mouth when talking to the king, apparently to insure the sweetness and acceptability of their breath” —Univ. Minnesota Library.

Clove buds are warming and spicy and are now used to flavor foods, making pomanders and used in medicine. Cloves supply vanillin to the industry.

Dicypellium caryophyllatum (syn. Cassia caryophylatta) bark from another family Lauraceae is used as a substitute tor true cloves and cinnamon. The wood is valuable but is little exported from Brazil. The bark is sold as quills and smells like cloves (95%) eugenol) and it is also called Cassia caryophylatta. It is used as a flavorant and with its leaves is a stimulating tea.

The true Clove, Syzygium aromaticum (the old name is Eugenia caryophylatta), is from the family Myrtaceae. Other names for this is Clove, clovos, caryophyllus and the parts used are Flower buds, stems or leaves.

Is one or the other better for aromatherapy use? If you want to use Cloves, use cloves. These are of two different families, indigenous to different areas.

Different plants called Clove ~ The difference(s) between Clove Bud, Clove Leaf and Clove stem is CLOVE BUD is the fruit, CLOVE LEAF is the leaf of the tree and CLOVE STEM is the stem. They have different chemical constituents. They are all used in aromatherapy and the applications are different. See page 87 in The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations for uses of these two trees. This article is entirely about Clove Bud oil and herb.

Latin Binomial/Botanical? L. There is some confusion between the two above named plants and their essential oils. This paper discusses Syzygium aromaticum or Clove of the Family – Myrtaceae.

Countries of Origin: Clove trees are native to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. Much exported from Zanzibar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and the Reunion and Madagascar where they are thought to have derived from one tree.

General description of plant, habitat & growth: Syzygium is native to Africa and the Pacific. They are evergreen, canopy and emergent trees, growing to a height of between 40 and 50 feet, with large, bright green leaves and strongly fragrant flowers that grow in bunches at the end of the twigs. These flower buds are pale, then turn green and eventually turn bright red when they are ready to harvest.

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods & yield ~ Syzygium aromaticum or Clove of the Family – Myrtaceae. The essential oil is water/hydro-distilled from the sun-dried flower buds. “As it distills and comes over into the condenser, the Clove oil is collected, in the receiver, in two fractions, one that is lighter than water and floats on the water, the other heavier than water and sinks to the bottom. The two fractions must be mixed to obtain the complete oil and the distillation waters should be cohobated (redistilled) to recover all the oil extracted from the spice.” —Guenther, vol. 4, p. 428.

Yield: 10-15%.Yield: 10-15%.

There is also an absolute of Clove available obtained by solvent-extraction and is considered to bring the true scent of the buds to life when used in a perfume.

This picture shows the two fractions of the oil during distillation with a layer of water in between. It is not a hydrosol as the distillation water has to be cohobated continually back into the still to obtain the maximum amount of hydrosol.

There is also an absolute of Clove available obtained by solvent-extraction and is considered to bring the true scent of the buds to life when used in a perfume.

SUSTAINABILITY ~ Essential oils are just not sustainable for the environment in the amounts that are now in use. In my own lifetime, I have seen many oils be overused and then go out of use as they were not being replanted. Be selective in your usage of the plants essential oi. Be moderate. Often, the herbal use is preferred over the essential use.

Organoleptic Characteristics:
Color:                           Light yellow to pale brown when older
Clarity:                        Clear
Viscosity:                   Some viscosity
Taste:                          Bitter, aromatic
Intensity of Odor:   7 (Scale is 1-10 with some Lavenders about 2)

Odor Assessment and Description: This is one of the several plants whose useful parts are considered to have a licorice or anise scent. In this case, it is the eugenol that is being described. Eugenol in my opinion, does not smell much of licorice/anise. Clove oil can be described as very spicy, with a fruity subsidiary note and a somewhat woody back note.

Chemical Components: Active Compounds in Clove oil is 60 to 90 percent eugenol. Its properties are anesthetic and antiseptic. India’s traditional Ayurvedic healers have used clove since ancient times to treat respiratory and digestive ailments.

Historical and Interesting Facts and Uses ~ Like the history of many spices, the history of Cloves goes back many centuries. In fact, this spice was one of the first to be traded and evidence of cloves have been found in vessels dating as far back as 1721 BC. Besides being used as a mouth refresher by ancient Chinese, Clove bud was used in Alexandria in 200 BC as a spice. Clove first arrived in Europe around the 4^th century A.D. as a highly coveted luxury. The medieval German herbalists used cloves as part of anti-gout mixture. Indonesia is the largest customer of Clove bud oil as it is used in Kretek cigarettes. There is a fascinating history of Cloves in commerce in the Guenther books, volume IV, p. 306. Portuguese explores carried cargoes of Cloves in their galleons, and “unwittingly initiated that fabulous spice trade which caused many a bloody and lengthy sea war”.

2.The old (1902) and the new (2017)

Safety Precautions for Clove Oil: It can cause serious skin and mucous membrane irritations when used by application. Use this oil only highly diluted and do not take by mouth. This is one of those plants that can be used herbally in small amounts but the EO is not to be taken internally.

GENERAL PROPERTIES ~

The EO is antibacterial, antiviral (against herpes), and analgesic, which helps in headache and toothaches. In skin care Clove oil, highly diluted, is used for the spicy scent in aftershave products or products for problem skin. Clove bud oil is effective in perfumery as a fixative or as part of a ‘Carnation’ scent. Clove EO is an anesthetic and is often used in carious teeth to relieve pain. The oil is wonderful in potpourri and sachet, the buds themselves boiled in wine with Cinnamon and other spices as drink.

Properties (by AP=application or IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation):
Application: Antiseptic, stimulant, carminative, parasiticidal, antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, analgesic, anti-neuralgic, antispasmodic, and anti-infectious.

Ingestion (only if highly diluted) for Stomachic, tonic, antiparasitic but the herbal tea is recommended instead.

Inhalation (only if highly diluted): Antiseptic, stimulant, aphrodisiac.

Physical Uses & How used (IG or AP):
Application: Clove Bud is used to relieve toothache, for some types of cancer, and in removing warts. In fact, it was one of the first oils to be directly applied in therapy. Other uses include external application, greatly diluted in carrier oil for rheumatism, and arthritis, and for muscular aches and pains. Further still, Clove bud is used in salves or lotions as an application for colds, flu, verrucae, tired limbs, scabies, ringworm, and recovery from infections.

Contraindication in Skin Care: Clove oil can cause serious skin and mucous membrane irritations, make sure that if you use it, dilute it greatly and use only the bud oil and neither the stem nor the leaf.

Inhalation: Use with other oils and diluted for colds, flu, chest infections, and bronchitis. It stimulates the respiratory system and is antiseptic for various infectious diseases.

Emotional Uses:
By inhalation, Clove Bud alleviates mental debility, stimulates the memory, stimulates the mind, and helps one overcome exhaustion. Use in dilution with other oils such as Rosemary, Bergamot and Lavender.

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION of the Essential Oil ~ Clove oil is very powerful and I strongly urge you not to use it in a diffusor.

BLENDING and Perfumery: Cloves blend well with Vanilla, Rose, deeply-scented or sweet florals where it has a ‘unique and natural richness and body’. The classic scent called Rondeletia is a mixture of Lavender and Clove where Sage and Clary Sage is a good addition. Rondeletia Odor described by Askinson is Bergamot, Lavender, Clove, Rose, Sandalwood, Vanilla and a fixative of ambergris and musk.

Rondeletia accord was recently used to make a modern masculine creation. It is a sweet, floral spicy odor of Lavender, Clove and spring flowers with Rose first macerated in corn alcohol with maybe some Clary Sage absolute. Corn alcohol is used according to the British manner. The spirit has to be carefully chosen in perfumery; if a brandy scent is desired use grape spirits for an entirely different odor choose corn or wheat spirits.

Clove Perfume ~ Formula for Mock Carnation Scent:
Cinnamon 10% percentage by weight — 2 drops
Clove 10% — 6
Geranium 10% — 6
Green Mandarin 10% — 3
Osmanthus abs 10% — 3
Rose abs 15% — 10
Tuberose 10% — 4
Vanilla C0₂ 10% — 4
Ylang Ylang 10% — 7

HYDROSOL: I have never had the opportunity to use Clove hydrosol but I imagine it would have some use either as a seasoning in food or possibly diluted as a stimulating antiseptic mouthwash.

CULINARY AND HERBAL USES ~ Cloves are extensively used in all sorts of foods or spicy seasonings. The holiday ham can be studded with Cloves. Herbally, the buds are useful in antiseptic or analgesic formulas when infused in carrier oils or to make potpourris and pomanders.

A JEANNE ROSE TOMATO TALE

MY FAVORITE USE for Clove buds is to make pomanders at Christmas. You can hang them on the tree or on your door to fragrance your home or just pile them in a bowl. You have to start the pomander as soon as September so that the Clove buds have time to do their magic in that the apple or orange will begin to dry up, wizen-up, shrink and become simply a ball of clove buds.

FORMULA: Purchase small fragrant Apples or non-juicy Oranges. I prefer small sweet Apples. Stab all over with the point of a sharp knife or an ice pick in a design or just in rows. It will take over 300 Clove buds to cover a small Apple. Stick the pointy end of the Clove bud into the holes that you have made. Make sure that the Apple is thickly studded with Clove. Now mix together some powdered Cinnamon, powdered Cloves, maybe some Nutmeg and powdered Star Anise and place the pomander apple in this mixture. Roll it around until all parts are covered (or shake in a bag with the spices). Let the pomander sit somewhere where it can dry out. This will take a month or so. Tie some bright green or red ribbons around the Pomander and tuck fresh Rosemary into the bow for good luck.

In the past, I have just dropped the last years pomander balls into my “Old Oil Jar”. The Clove-studded Apple quickly becomes a part of the scent of the oil, thus changing it. This “Old Oil Jar” is now about 25 years old and changes scent continually as I add oils and pomanders and remove some to add to my clean house routine. I will never know the entire ingredients of the jar.

Key Use: Culinary use and tooth care.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

Science article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3819475/ where it is discussed that Cloves are an antioxidant, food preservative, reversal of memory impairment, radical scavenger and as a commercial source of polyphenols and antifungal.

References: There is a lot of information online as well as in the Arctander book (referenced below) and The Essential Oils books by Ernest Guenther.

Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Elizabeth, NJ. 1960
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Vol. IV. Pages 396-436
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol. 2016
Mabberley, D.J., Mabberley’s Plant Book, 2008 Third Edition with 2014 updates, Cambridge University Press
Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things. Personal copy
Rose, Jeanne. . Frog. Ltd.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Frog Ltd. 1999
Worwood, Susan & Valerie Ann. Essential Aromatherapy, Novato, California: New World Library, 2003.
http://www.indepthinfo.com/cloves/story.shtml
https://www.lib.umn.edu/bell/tradeproducts/cloves

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose

105 years of Clove Bud Oil

~ JR ~

Basil Essential Oil & Hydrosol Profile

Oct31

Basil chemotypes for daily care and perfumery, used in many therapeutic formulas, is widely grown and healing to mind and body. A detailed synopsis of uses and properties.

Basil Essential Oil & Hydrosol Profile

By Jeanne Rose ~ October 2017

Common Name/Latin Binomial: Basil is Ocimum basilicum and has several chemotypes. Holy Basil or Tulsi Basil is Ocimum sanctum or O. tenuiflorum.

Other Common Name/Naming Information: Basil (Ocimum mimimum or basilicum is called cooking Basil, great Basil, St. Joseph’s plant or just Basil and Holy Basil or Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum or O. sanctum). They are treated as annuals although some act as perennial. Holy basil contains eugenol and depending on the species and cultivar and it has a strong, herbaceous, often sweet smell. The leaves may taste somewhat like anise, but for me, it is only slightly licorice or anise scented.

Mountain Rose Herbs lists 3 types of Holy Basil that are called Holy Basil. Krishna, Rama and Vana. Ayurvedic texts describe these type of Basil as a ‘pillar of holistic herbal medicine and a goddess incarnated in plant form (the mother medicine of nature’.

Family: Lamiaceae family. There are several species and hybrid species, varieties and also chemotypes (chemical varieties) depending mainly on what men decide they want but also on terroir especially elevation and other factors such as bloom tine and the time of year the plant is harvested.

Countries of Origins: Basil is known for thousands of years, by the Greeks and the Romans, and probably originated in India. Ocimum tenuiflorum (synonym Ocimum sanctum), commonly known as Holy Basil, tulasi, or tulsi, which is native to the Indian subcontinent and widespread as a cultivated plant throughout the Southeast Asian tropics. It is revered as the ‘elixir of life’.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location: Basil linalool and chavicol from Egypt, Holy Basil from India.

Endangered or Not: Basil is not endangered although there are some native species that are.

General description of Plant habitat and growth. This plant is generally considered a tender annual. The seeds are sown directly into the ground, it likes a sunny location with well-drained soil, thinned or transplanted to 12 inches apart, water deeply every 10 days (or so), and chopped and distilled before it forms flowers. Basil is best used fresh, whether for culinary use or distillation.
“Krishna (Ocimum tenuiflorum) is known for its medicinal value and peppery crisp taste. The plant has dark green to purple leaves, stems, and blossoms. It is cultivated in the Indian plains, as well as private homes and gardens around India, and is named after the blue skinned God as the dark purple leaves resemble this color.
Rama (Ocimum sanctum) is known for its cooling and mellow flavor. The plant has green leaves, white-to-purplish blossoms, and a green or purplish stem. It is cultivated in the Indian plains, as well as private homes and gardens around India.
Vana (Ocimum sp.), aka. “forest type”, is known for its fragrance. The plant has green leaves and stem, with white blossoms. It is found in the Himalayas and plains of India. Grows wild in Asia and Africa and is used medicinally there as well.” — Mountain Rose Herbs

Several varieties can be grown:

Cinnamon basil – Ocimum sp., this refers to a number of different varieties of Basil that are related because of their spicy odor, 18″. This variety offers dark green shiny leaves and pink flowers.

Lemon basil – O. x basilicum ‘Citriodorum’, a hybrid of African and American basil, 12″-18″. Fine-leafed plant with distinct lemon fragrance.

Lettuce Leaf basil – O. crispum, 15″. A large leaf variety of Basil with large, crinkled green leaves which have a sweeter flavor and milder scent than other varieties.

Opal basil – O. basilicum. ‘Purpurascens’, an improved variety of dark purple Basil. 12″-18″. A variety that has red-purplish foliage and pink flowers.

Spicy Globe – O. basilicum, 8″-10″. Has green foliage and is a small, compact plant size. and spicy scent.

Thai basil – O. basilicum., 24″-36″. An upright, plant with flavor and fragrance distinctly different from other basils.

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields: Leaves are steam- or hydro-distilled.
Yield: Depending on the season when distilled, the yield is 0.1% to 1.66%.

Basil flowers from Ocimum tenuiflorum (also called O. sanctum),

The seeds from Strictly Medicinal seeds in Oregon (formerly Horizon Herbs).

Photo credited to Andrea Lay

Organoleptic Characteristics:

Color – colorless to pale pale yellow
Clarity – clear
Viscosity – non-viscous
Intensity of odor – 5
Taste – bitter, aromatic

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment ~ Basil is a good example of how a chemotype alters the scent of a plant. Basil can grow in various areas from the very hot to the less hot. The hotter the area the more that the Basil will reflect the heat by producing more chavicol. If the area is higher in altitude, the Basil may produce more Linalool. Besides the many botanicals varieties of Basil, all with varying odors to complicate the matter there are also chemotypes (chemical varieties).

There are chemotypes CT thymol, CT eugenol, CT chavicol, and CT linalool. Light intensity and higher temperature encourages camphor. High altitude often encourages linalool; eugenol and thymol often have to do with the heat of the climate.

Basil Chavicol or methyl chavicol (aka estragole), very strongly herbaceous odor, not for perfumery, better in household products or soap.

Basil eugenol, high in eugenol, the “production of new types of basil oils grown in Indiana are rich in specific chemical constituents that have application in new products will require a close relationship with both essential oil brokers and end-processors.” It has a spicy clove-like scent.

Basil Holy has a strong herbaceous and spicy odor with a slight green and fruity back note. This Basil is in the group of ‘licorice-scented’ essential oils. For me, it is only slightly licorice or anise scented through the inclusion of eugenol.

Basil linalool. This CT (CT = chemotype or chemical variety) is gently medicinal and has a sweet, green odor, very fine to use in perfumery, and any products that are used for the younger persons.

Basil thymol smells spicy and astringent and best for applications more medicinal in nature.

Classifying by chemotype is more prevalent now than it was 10-15 years ago. Another way to say it is that chemotype (chemical variety) refers to the particular plant that have the same morphological (body shape) characteristics, but which produce different quantities of the chemical constituents in the resultant essential oil.

(see also the Chemical Components below)

Blends Best with most of the Mediterranean herbs such as Sage, Lavender, Marjoram, Rosemary and with most of the seed oils and modifies the green scents in perfumery such as Mugwort and Galbanum and the stronger conifer scents such as Redwood or Sequoia.

Blending/Perfumery ~ This green, spicy note works well with citrus and is used as a bridge or full note in many commercial perfumes.

Citrus/Green Formula

Top Note ~30 drops of cobinations of Citrus oils such as Bergamot, Lemon, Tangerine

Heart Note ~12 drops of Basil (linalool will be softer, Holy Basil stronger, do not use Basil chavicol or Basil thymol)

Bridge or in Heart Note ~ 5-10 drops of a green note such as Coriander seed or Galbanum

Base Note ~ 20-30 drops of Atlas Cedar and Vetivert

GENERAL PROPERTIES

Properties (by IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application): IG as stomachic, antispasmodic, digestive tonic, possibly an intestinal antiseptic, and carminative. IN as restorative, general stimulant, maybe an emmenagogue and by AP it is antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antibacterial, anti-infectious, and antibiotic.

Please be aware of which chemotype you are using as the eugenol and thymol types can be an irritant on the skin.

Basil CO₂ from the leaves, Ocimum basilicum & O. sanctum, has a strong Basil smell and is more like the Basil taste and smell than the steam-distillate of the leaves. It can be used wherever the SD is used and in culinary as well. Try a bit in your hair care products for that refreshing, distinctive Basil odor and stimulating quality. In perfumery, it is both sweet and spicy. Basil always blends well with Bergamot, Clary Sage, Clove Bud, Lime, Juniper, Lemon, Neroli, and Rosemary.

Properties and Uses: Tulsi Basil has been shown to have some antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus and is better known as an adaptogen and astringent herb used as an Ayurveda remedy for various things including removing stress and for longevity. Also, it is used in Thai cuisine and as an insect repellent when leaves are added to stored foods and grains. Sweet Basil and other Basil types are stimulant, anti-bacterial, some types are more to less slightly to very medicinal.

Herbal Body/Hair Care – Basil that wonderful delicious smelling herb which loses most of its scentual delight when dried is best used fresh in your creations. Quickly dry and mash to a powder, mix with powdered sweet Lavender and brush into the hair to perfume it.

Or take 3 ounces of neutral spirits (ethanol), add 7 drops of sweet Lavender EO and 7 drops sweet Basil EO, shake well and add ½ ounce Lavender hydrosol and succuss. Use this to perfume and treat your hair to help health and growth.

Jeanne Rose Formula for Split Ends and Hair Growth
Occasionally as needed, use 1 tsp. of Olive oil that you have added 1 drop each of Basil oil and Rosemary oil. Apply this to the scalp and massage in thoroughly. Let this sit overnight, shampoo in the morning. This is for healthy hair, hair growth and to reduce split ends. Also, make an infusion of the herbs of Basil and Rosemary. Use the fresh herbs if possible. Use the strained infusion as a rinse after your shampoo and as a spray on the hair when needed. For a more complete formula and uses on the hair, refer to of Jeanne Rose’s Herbal Body Book, p. 70.

Diffuse/Diffusion: Basil EO when used in the diffuser, particularly with Rosemary and Lavender oil is a brain and memory stimulant. But Basil is strong and pungent, use the diffuser or inhaler only briefly and moderately for best effect.

Emotional/Energetic Use: When inhaled, this Basil oil is considered to reduce depression, relax the mind after intellectual overwork, soothe the nerves and reduce stress. This is used by inhalation, a drop in the palms of the hand, rub hands together briskly and then inhale the scent.

Holy Basil has strong ritualistic and energetic uses.

HYDROSOL: Basil hydrosol is just a wonderful product; however, its scent depends on which chemotype you use. It can be added to a hair conditioner or hair application to stimulate growth and for hair loss; a teaspoon in a glass of water or carbonated water can be calming and to soothe a fiery feeling or it can be used in foods such as vegetables and pasta. Basil hydrosol has a slight licorice taste and is a digestive.

Basil Oils and Tulsi Hydrosol – courtesy of Eden Botanicals

Jeanne Rose’s (Tomato Tales) Basil EO ~ My first experience with the essential oil of Basil was not a positive one. This was in 1970 and what I was smelling had no relationship to the sweet herb Basil I was used to having in my cooking. I learned from old texts that the essential oil could be a tonic to my hair, and I also knew that Rosemary EO and herb were used for hair growth. So, I decided to combine these two and made a hair tonic with Basil and Rosemary oil and Jojoba Oil as a carrier oil. These three items have the following qualities: Basil as a stimulant, Rosemary for hair growth and Jojoba to keep dark hair dark. I started using this formula in 1970 and have used it ever since. At 80, my hair is still dark with just an edge of white around the forehead. Now I like the scent of Basil.

CULINARY USE ~ This sweet, spicy herb Basil is a very important flavoring herb for the kitchen, it was used extensively to flavor turtle soup and is perfect, always, with Tomato. Fresh Basil is best but in a pinch, you can use 1-drop of Basil oil on two ounces of the dried herb. Toss the mixture and store away in an airtight container in the dark while the scent infuses the dried herb. You can also chop fresh Basil and just cover with a good quality Olive oil and store in the fridge until needed. Use sooner rather than later. For pesto sauce, pound fresh Basil with Olive oil, Pine nuts, Parsley, Garlic, Parmesan, and salt and pepper and use this on pasta, freshly sautéed Onions or spread on toasted bread, vegetables or salad.

HERBAL USE ~ Herb Basil is added to honey and Nutmeg and used to ease diarrhea and some say as a tea to ease childbirth pain.

Basil Leaf

Chemical Components: The strong clove scent of sweet basil (Basil CT eugenol) is derived from eugenol, the same chemical as actual cloves. Scent and chemistry is different depending on the season and the variety.
The various basils have such different scents because the herb has a number of chemotypes that come together in different proportions. (“The essential oil composition over the different seasons was quite idiosyncratic, in which the principal components of one season were either trivial or totally absent in another”.) The strong clove scent of sweet Basil is derived from eugenol, the same chemical as actual cloves. Basil and Oregano contain large amounts of (E)-beta-caryophyllene, BCP, which might have a use in treating inflammatory bowel diseases and arthritis. BCP is the only product identified in nature that activates CB₂ selectively; it interacts with receptors (CB₂), blocking chemical signals that lead to inflammation, but without triggering mood-altering effects. Use in blends for perfume or for scent.

The citrus scent of lemon Basil and lime Basil reflects their higher portion of citral, which causes a healing lung effect evident in several plants including lemon mint, and of limonene, which gives actual lemon peel its scent. African blue basil has a strong camphor smell because it contains camphor and camphene in higher proportions. Licorice basil contains anethole, the same chemical that makes Anise smell like licorice, and in fact is sometimes called “anise basil.” https://jeanne-blog.com/aniseed-star-anise-profile/

Other chemicals that help to produce the distinctive scents of many Basils, depending on their proportion in each specific variety or breed, include: 1,8-cineole, beta-caryophyllene, camphor, citronellol (scented geraniums, Roses, and citronella) , eugenol, fenchyl acetate, linalool (a flowery scent also in coriander), linalyl acetate, methyl eugenol, myrcene (most types of Bay leaf, Hops, Thyme),pinene (which is, as the name implies, the chemical that gives pine oil its scent), ocimene, terpineol, trans-ocimene.

Tulsi Basil essential oil has been found to consist mostly of eugenol (~70%) β-elemene (~11.0%), β-caryophyllene (~8%) and germacrene (~2%), with the balance being made up of various trace compounds, (mostly terpenes).
Based on chemical content, basils can be divided into four main groups:

1)French ~ Ocimum basilicum, contains lower amounts of phenols

2) exotic; contains methyl chavicol (40-80%)

3) methyl cinnamate – ether 90%

4) eugenol

Basil and oregano contain large amounts of (E)-beta-caryophyllene (BCP), which might have a use in treating inflammatory bowel diseases and arthritis. BCP is the only product identified in nature that activates CB₂ selectively; it interacts with one of two cannabinoid receptors (CB₂), blocking chemical signals that lead to inflammation, without triggering cannabis’s mood-altering effects.

Interesting and Historical Information ~ In Gerard’s Herbal, “The juice mixed with fine meal of parched barley, oil of Roses, and Vinegar, is good against inflammations, and the stinging of venomous beasts”, and Nicholas Culpeper noted of basil that “Galen and Dioscorides were against it, that it would not grow with rue and it helped a deficiency of Venus on the one kind but spoils all her actions in another.” The Oxford English Dictionary quotes speculations that basil may have been used in “some royal unguent, bath, or medicine”. Basil is still considered the “king of herbs” by many cookery authors.

Key Use ~ Various CT (chemotypes) are used in perfumery, hair care, and to inhale as a brain ‘tonic’.

27-year collection of Basil oil with leaves

Scientific Data: Essential oil from Ocimum basilicum (Omani Basil): a desert crop.
Al-Maskri AY¹, Hanif MA, Al-Maskari MY, Abraham AS, Al-sabahi JN, Al-Mantheri O.
Abstract: The focus of the present study was on the influence of season on yield, chemical composition, antioxidant and antifungal activities of Omani basil (Ocimum basilicum) oil. The present study involved only one of the eight Omani basil varieties. The hydro-distilled essential oil yields were computed to be 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.1% in the winter, spring and summer seasons, respectively. The major components identified were L- linalool (26.5-56.3%), geraniol (12.1-16.5%), 1,8-cineole (2.5-15.1%), p-allylanisole (0.2-13.8%) and DL-limonene (0.2-10.4%). A noteworthy extra component was beta-farnesene, which was exclusively detected in the oil extracted during winter and spring at 6.3% and 5.8%, respectively. The essential oil composition over the different seasons was quite idiosyncratic, in which the principal components of one season were either trivial or totally absent in another. The essential oil extracted in spring exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (except DPPH scavenging ability) in comparison with the oils from other seasons. The basil oil was tested against pathogenic fungi viz. Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, Penicillium italicum and Rhizopus stolonifer using a disc diffusion method, and by determination of minimum inhibitory concentration. Surprisingly high antifungal values were found highlighting the potential of Omani basil as a preservative in the food and medical industries.

References:
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal. London. 1824. (author’s collection)
Gerard’s Herbal. The Herball or Generall Hiftorie of Plantes. London. 1632 [author’s collection]
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, CA.
Rose, Jeanne. . Berkeley, CA. Frog, Ltd.
Rose, Jeanne. The Herbal Guide to Food Book. Berkeley, CA. Frog, Ltd.
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose. San Francisco, CA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22164790 • EO from O. basilicum (influence of season on yield,
https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/vegetables/growing-basil/
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/V1-484.html
Oxford English Dictionary – the complete edition
www.mountainroseherbs.com

SOME CAUTIONS TO REMEMBER for all Essential Oils

HYDROSOL — PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

PATCH TEST: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapist suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species, chemotype, and terroir.

CONTRAINDICATIONS: Be moderate in your use of any essential oil. A little goes a long way. Remember to choose the herbal use over the essential oil use normally; an herb tea is milder than the essential oil. There are always contraindications for the excessive use of some plants and for their essential oils in both perfumery or aromatherapy.

DO NOT INGEST ESSENTIAL OILS: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or in honey to take internally.

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Note: I have underlined the word Basil or Holy Basil so that wherever you see it you will be aware of which plant I am talking about. Also, I always capitalize the name of the herb or essential oil so that you will know I am speaking of the plant and not the color or taste.

Moderation in All Things.

Be moderate in your use of essential oils as they are just not sustainable for the environment.
Be selective and more moderate in your usage.
Use the herb first as tea or the infusion. —JeanneRose 2014

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

VETIVER PLANT/VETIVERT EO PROFILE

Jun20

Synopsis: An ambitious discussion of the essential oil of the grass Vetivert from the rootlets, its uses, growth, description, organoleptic qualities and uses of the essential oil.

A Vetivert basket and Vetivert essential oils from three countries. Courtesy Eden Botanicals.

VETIVER ROOTS OF A FRAGRANT PLANT

Jeanne Rose

Common Name/Latin Binomial: Vetiver or Vetivert is Chrysopogon zizanioides. Vetiver is the plant and Vetivert is the essential oil of the plant.

Other Common Name/Naming Information: On the basis of similar genetic analysis of related genera such as Chrysopogon and Sorghum, a new taxonomy was proposed by Veldkamp, who combined Chrysopogon zizanioides and Vetiveria zizanioides under the unique denomination Chrysopogon zizanioides L. Roberty. the former term, Vetiveria zizanioides, however, is still widely used in the current literature.

“Vetiver belongs to the same part of the grass family as maize, sorghum, sugarcane, and lemongrass. Its botanic name, Vetiveria zizanioides (Linn) Nash, has had a checkered history—at least 11 other names in 4 different genera have been employed in the past. The generic name comes from “vetiver,” a Tamil word meaning “root that is dug up.” The specific name zizanioides (often misspelled zizanoides) was given first by the great Swedish taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus in 1771. It means “by the riverside”, and reflects the fact that the plant is commonly found along waterways in India.” — https://www.nap.edu/read/2077/chapter/7

Family: From the grass family Poaceae. Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. The term Poaceae is derived from the Ancient Greek for fodder

Essential Oil Plants of the Grass Family ~ Gramineae (Poaceae).

Chrysopogon zizanioides is commonly known as Vetiver, a bunch grass whose roots are used.
Cymbopogon citratus West Indian Lemongrass;

Cymbopogon flexuosus is East Indian Lemongrass

Cymbopogon martini var. motia is Palmarosa grass, syn. Andropogon martini or Cymbopogon martinii.

Cymbopogon martinii var. sofia is Gingergrass

Cymbopogon nardus is Citronella grass.

Countries of Origins: Haiti, Java, Brazil, China, Madagascar, Japan and La Réunion and India for the Khus variety.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location: Haiti and Sri Lanka with both organically-grown and cultivated types grown.

Endangered or Not: The annual world trade in Vetivert oil is estimated to be approximately 250 tons with Brazil, China, Haiti, India, Japan, Java, and Reunion being the main producers. Europe, India, Japan, and the United States are the main consumers.

The plant does not seem to be endangered although there is fear that consumers will mistakenly order the fertile plant over the internet and introduce it to a place where it may overrun.

General description of Plant habitat and growth: There are about 50 species of Chrysopogon of which only one is used in aromatherapy and that species zizanioides has two main types, a fertile one and a sterile one. This is a perennial grass with very fragrant long rhizomatous roots, growing to six feet high.

“It is important to realize that Vetiver comes in two types—this is a crucial point because only one of them is suitable for use around the world. If the wrong one is planted, it may spread and produce problems for farmers.

A wild type from North India known as Khus or Vetiver. This is the original undomesticated species. It flowers regularly, sets fertile seed, and is known as a “colonizer.” Its rooting tends to be shallow, especially in the damp ground it seems to prefer. If loosed on the world, it might become a weed.

A “domesticated” type from South India. This is the Vetiver that has existed under cultivation for centuries and is widely distributed throughout the tropics. It is probably a man-made selection from the wild type. It is nonflowering, does not seed (or at least is non-spreading), and must be replicated by vegetative propagation. It is the only safe type to use for erosion control.” — https://www.nap.edu/read/2077/chapter/7

It southern cultivar is a densely tufted, perennial grass that is considered sterile outside its natural habitat. It flowers but sets no seeds. It is a lawn grass in the tropics, however, when eaten the sharp calluses on the lemma can pierce an animals stomach. (The Lemma is a morphological term used in botany and refers to a part of the spikelet of grasses (Poaceae). It is the lowermost of two chaff-like bracts enclosing the grass floret. It often bears a long bristle called an awn, and may be similar in form to the glumes – chaffy bracts at the base of each spikelet.

Vetiver can grow up to (5 ft.) high and form clumps as wide. The stems are tall and the leaves are long, thin, and rather rigid. The flowers are brownish-purple. Unlike most grasses, which form horizontally spreading, mat-like root systems, vetiver’s roots grow downward, 7 ft. to 13 ft. in depth.

Vetiver is the best plant in the world to stop erosion and repair damaged land from erosion. Once permanent Vetiver rows are established the roots should never be dug up. The aromatic roots have been used since ancient times in India. The fragrant, insect-repelling roots yield oil, which is valuable in the perfume industry. Traditionally, these roots were woven into mats, fans and fragrant screens, while the tops of the grass were used for thatch, mulch, handicraft, fodder and animal bedding.

Vetivert roots http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/growing-vetiver-for-essential

Portion of the plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields: In Haiti, January and February are the high season for picking and distilling the Vetiver roots. The roots of Vetiver are picked, washed, comminuted (chopped), dried, and macerated (soaked) in the distillation water, before being steam distilled.

Yield: 0.5%.

The quality of the oil depends on the age of the roots and the length of distillation ~ from 12-36 hours. Distillation studies on vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides) in northern India during 1987 to 1991, demonstrated that maximum oil content was associated with freshly harvested roots and that extractable oil decreased with delays in harvest and storage period.

Organoleptic Characteristics:

Color …………………. Depending on source, it is honey colored to a caramel brown
Clarity ………………… The lighter the color the more it is clear, the darker then semi-opaque
Viscosity ……………. Viscous to very viscous and thick like molasses
Intensity of odor … 4-6 (often the darker the color the more intense is the odor)

The guide to gauge the Intensity of odor ~ On a scale of 1-10, Lemon is on the low end about 2, while Peppermint is about 7-8. There are Lavenders that run the gamut from 1-9. However, Vetivert is often not very intense and softens with use in a perfume.

Taste ……………………. A burning bitter aromatic flavor, a smoky scent that rises up the throat.

5 Vetivert oils ~ courtesy Eden Botanicals and Prima Fleur

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment: In general, the odor of this EO is very distinctive, yet when compared with one another there are definite differences. The newer samples of Vetivert are lighter in color and the lighter the color the less intense and less complex is the odor. As you can see from the above illustration, color varies from pale yellow to very dark brown. Color is removed from the oil because perfume makers do not like color. Personally, I prefer the deep rich intense scent of the original Vetivert types with the rich dark color for my perfumery classes.

Vetivert when double-distilled has an earthy, green tenacious character with sweet wood quality. During re-distillation, a small fraction of the constituents is removed, thus removing some of the therapeutic quality and other Vetivert oils are recommended when therapy is required.

Vetivert oil is a viscous amber-colored oil with a characteristic rooty, precious-woody odor of great tenacity. It is olfactorily dominated by a complex mixture of oxygenated sesquiterpenes. Has a persistent green-woody note and can be soft, woody-fruity when used with Patchouli, Sandalwood, Jasmine.

Vetivert double-distilled from Haiti is a light-colored EO, clear, medium viscosity and the scent is woody, green and slightly fruity odor, with less definable complexity. Because of its lack of color, it is often preferred in a perfume.

Vetivert organically grown from Haiti is a clear oil with a nice yellow color. It is strongly herbaceous and earth with a woody and even spicy note.

I am very fond of the Vetivert from Java with its deep brown color, semi-opaque, and viscous. The scent is woody, green with a floral and herbal back note. This very complex oil will indeed make your perfumes brown but upon dilution the scent smoothens out. It is wonderful with Rose or jasmine and Patchouly to make deep rich grounding odors that are sometimes

Solubility ……………………… 1-2 volumes of 80% alcohol
Specific Gravity ……………. 0.984 – 1.035 @ 25° C
Optical Rotation …………. Varies from +14° to + 37°
Refractive Index at 20° … 1.515 1.530

Chemical Components: There is great variety in the GC/MS of Vetivert but the one that I have seen is Vetiverol up to 50%, Vetivol up to 10%, terpenes like Vetivene up to 20%, and phenols up to 11%, Furfural, and Sesquiterpenes.

Two main chemotypes of the C. zizanioides species can be found: the ‘typical’ vetiver that is widespread all over the world and especially in Haiti, Java, Brazil, China, Madagascar, Japan and La Réunion. This produces an essential oil containing mainly zizaane, vetivane, eremophilane and eudesmane derivatives. The essential oils prepared industrially for the perfumery world market come exclusively from this variety.

On the other hand, ‘Khus’ oil another chemotype, is distinguished from the typical C. zizanioides by high amounts of cadinane derivatives, such as khusinol and especially khusilal. Khus oil is also devoid of the vetivones, characteristic of the ‘typical’ samples.

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General Properties: (by IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application):
Application: Fixative in perfumery, stimulant, humectant, antiseptic, tonic, immuno-stimulant, emmenagogue, antispasmodic, sedative, and antiparasitic.
Ingestion: It is not taken internally.
Inhalation: Stimulant, immuno-stimulant, calmative, some think it has emmenagogue properties, sedative, and nervine.

Application: Vetivert is used as a fixative in perfumery. When used in massage oil it is good for the circulation. It is used in lotions for aching joints, arthritis, or rheumatism. It is a circulatory tonic and it can alleviate menstrual problems. Specifically, it is said to promote and regulate menstrual flow and alleviates cramping.

Application/ Skincare: It is moisturizing and humectant for dry skin. So, it is used in skin care on dry, irritated, mature, or aging skin. Vetivert EO is useful in lotions to assist in skin hydration, if used with Lemon oil to help even out the color of the skin, and when used regularly will help to reveal smoother, better-looking complexion. The EO is useful in anti-aging creams and lotions, especially with Frankincense EO.

Exfoliation,
a recipe for the skin

Exfoliation is just like peeling the skin off an onion. Dead cells are removed with scrubs, masks, or acid peels, revealing the younger, smoother layer of skin beneath. Exfoliate with ground coffee, ground almonds, ground walnuts, ground oats or a combination of these with hydrosols to hydrate and essential oils to treat. Essential oils should be gentle such as Owyhee, Roman Chamomile, Sandalwood, Rose, and Vetivert.

I am particularly fond of ¼ cup ground Almonds with enough Roman Chamomile or Rose hydrosol to moisten and a drop of Vetivert. Mix together, apply to clean moist face and gently massage in with circular motions. Let it sit while you shower and then gently rinse off.

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Pain Release Formula
Mix together 20 drops Grapefruit – white, + 10 drops Rosewood + 5 drops Vetivert.
Shake vigorously and apply by massage to any painful spots on your body.

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Perfumery ~ Vetiver grass roots contain an essential oil and used with other tropical odors is considered a high-class perfume. Copper plate inscriptions have been found that list the perfume (probably as a maceration) as one of the articles used by royalty. Vetivert oil is one of the ingredients in Chanel No. 5. The famous French perfume was introduced in 1921 and is still in production. Vetivert oil is contained in 90% of all western perfumes and its greatest use is in modern perfume creations. Vetivert oil is estimated to be approximately 250 tons per year in world trade. The herb has been known in India since ancient times.

Diffuse/Diffusion: Vetivert can be diffused if you mix it with other essential oils, specifically those that are less viscous such as the Lavenders or citrus odors. It makes a very warm grounding odor that helps calm a household.

Emotional/Energetic Use: In folklore, Vetivert oil is used to increase financial abundance. In more common ritual, inhaling the oil is said to protect the body from menacing energies, including physical illness. Vetiver is employed in massage and aromatherapy for its grounding influence, to calm the central nervous system of one who feels “uprooted.”

Emotional Uses (AP or IN):

Inhalation: “The scent is calming and sedating, used for comforting and for people who feel ‘uprooted’ or without stability. It affects the parathyroid glands” — 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols, p. 147. It also alleviates stress, tension, and nervous tension.

Vetivert is also a good grounding oil for those who focus on intellectual activities to the exclusion of the physical, the herb added to the bath for an exceptional stress-relieving soak, and to inhale in the case of shock due to, for example, an accident, loss of employment, bereavement, separation, or divorce.

Ritual Formula – Send All Evil Away
Make a formula 20 drops Rosewood + 10 drops Palmarosa + 3 drops Vetivert.
Mix it together and use by inhalation or add to 70 drops (2 ml +) of a carrier oil.
Apply to wrists with intention and inhale.

Key Use: Oil of Depression and the immune system or Oil of Tranquility.

Depending on the country where used, this plant when distilled is used in perfumery and if dried used as potpourri and bug repellent.

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Tomato Tales with Vetivert EO & Jeanne Rose’s experience

I collected the oil of this plant for 30 years, from various company lists. Didn’t like the odor so kept the oil and let it gracefully age on my shelves. This is one of the major essential oils that can age gracefully for many years. I have stock from 1983 and after. I have stock from a company now long gone that has added synthetics. Why this was the case, I do not know as it is a relatively inexpensive essential oil.

For all these years, I was not that fond of Vetivert essential oil although I really loved the Vetiver fans and fragrant baskets that were made with the roots. I tried to like the scent but was not successful using it in perfumes or blends. It took my friend, Marianne Griffeth, of Prima Fleur Botanicals, to teach me to love it via her ability to make successful and fragrant blends using Vetivert. Her blends were always warm and delicious smelling ~ she talked about it so much that I began to try to use Vetivert oil. I have been getting better and better and am now truly loving the scent. I like to use the less intense oils that I have obtained from Eden Botanicals but also love the deep, dark Vetivert I get from Prima Fleur Botanicals.

Recently, I took 1 tablespoon of plain unscented cleansing cream and added 1-drop of Vetivert oil and massaged on my clean face and then let it sit for a few hours before I washed it off with warm water. This was a very pleasant experience and my face looked dewy soft.

Blends Best with: Cassie, Cedarwood, Cinnamon, Clary Sage, Clove, Chocolate Absolute, Coffee Bean, Frankincense, Galbanum, Geranium, Grapefruit, Jasmine, Lavender, Oakmoss, Patchouli, Rose, Sandalwood, Tobacco Absolute, Violet Leaf, Ylang Ylang and citrus and other rich long-lived scents.

Blending with formula ~ When making perfumes, always mix your oils together and then shake them via succussion [Succussion – to fling up from below] to make a synergy. Let them age. Add more oil if needed. Age. Then add the carrier. Alcohol is not usually added to a Chypre type scent.

These are made with a top note, heart or body note and base or fixative note plus bridges if needed.

Chypre #3 ~ Vetivert
Top Note – 8 drops Clary Sage flower
Heart Note – 3 drops Cypress berry + 3 drops Grapefruit peel + 2 drops Petitgrain leaf
+ 2 drops Petitgrain leaf
Base Note – 4 drops Vetivert root + 2 drops Oakmoss
Fixative Note – 1 drop Labdanum resin

Mix these essential oils together, let them age for a few weeks. Smell, adjust ingredients if necessary. Dilute with oil, or alcohol and age again before using.

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Gayathri India Perfume – 8-15-12
Bergamot peel – 40 (dark green)
Vanilla abs – 20
Balsam of Tolu – 10 (pre-dilute 50•50 with grape spirits)
Vetivert roots – 5

Mix – wait – add Cane or Grape spirits – wait – filter if necessary – wait – Use.

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Dark Chocolate Truffle Perfume
Mix in any combination, start with 5 drops of each, smell, analyze
and add more or less of whatever you like.
Cocoa (Chocolate) Abs
Tobacco Abs
Vetivert EO
Vanilla Abs

Basket made of Vetiver roots

HERBAL USES: Varieties of this plant are grown throughout the tropics and used to thatch roofs or as a terracing plant. The roots of this grass acquire a soft almost sandalwood like odor when dried. If these plants are kept moist and laid about the house, they help to keep bugs and moths out. And these dried roots are one of the best fixatives for dry potpourri as they blend well with Rose scent. Theses roots can be used in bath herbs, powdered for sachet or drunk as a tonic or stimulant tea. — Herbs & Things, Jeanne Rose’s Herbal, p. 112.

Sometimes the roots are cleaned and used for brushes, for window screens (when wetted, will cool the house as the wind blows through), fans, mats and baskets and the chemical constituents of zizanol and epizizanol are insect repellents.

HYDROSOL: To date I have not had the opportunity to try a Vetiver hydrosol.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

Historical Uses: Historically used in perfumery while the herb is woven or used in mats to fragrance the air.

Interesting Information: One type is called Khus-Khus. The roots are used to make fragrant fans and screens, which give off a refreshing, clean scent when dampened. “The roots are interwoven with flower matting, window coverings, etc. giving rooms a fragrance and deterring insects. The oil is used in chypre (green, earthy) and oriental type perfumes, and soaps, toiletries, etc. Growing the plant protects against soil erosion” essential aromatherapy, p. 170.

Key Use: Depression and the immune system. Oil of Tranquility.

Contraindications: There do not seem to be any contraindications for the use of Vetiver plant in its use as blinds nor for the essential oil in perfumery or aromatherapy.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or in honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapist suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

FORMULAS

*

Herbal Rejuvenating Parchment Skin Bath

Mix together equal parts of Patchouli leaves (upon which you have sprayed a bit of Patchouli oil), Vetivert roots, Linden flowers, and Comfrey leaf. Mix this all together. For a great bath, use at least 4 oz.by volume of the mixture. Add to a quart of water, and simmer gently for 10 minutes, then pour the liquid into your bath and the herbal matter into a gauze bag. Tie off the bag and throw into the tub. The Patchouli is rejuvenating for the senses, the Vetiver is a tonic stimulant and beneficial to healthy skin tone, and the Comfrey regenerates aging skin.

This is a great combination for men. —from Jeanne Rose Herbal Body Book, p. 301.

*

Orange Chypre Potpourri (dried herbs).

Chypre (sheepre) scents were invented in France and used in the 16th and 17th Century and were made up of various herbal powders and resins. See Red Chypre as an example of that time. And they are non-alcoholic perfumes that contain a variety of oils and resins. The true traditional formula was one composed of Oakmoss, Labdanum, Jasmine, Patchouli and Bergamot with animal notes of civet and musk with Vetivert often added. These are often composed on the contrasts between Bergamot and Oakmoss and will often include Patchouli and citrus odors. These scents are good on brunettes and for most men except those men who are very fair, pale or blonde. Aromatics Elixir, MaGriffe and Paloma Picasso are examples of Chypre scent for women.

Potpourris and Sachets are usually made of three main ingredients: (not EO) the main plant for its scent and color; the essential scent in EO Perfumes, the blender plant scent and the fixative plant scent, which are usually resins and base notes.

Scent your basic herbs and resins with their own essential oil and age before using them in the final construction.

Remember that Potpourri ingredients are generally left in whole form so that the form of the plants is still identifiable (with fixative ingredients in powder form) while Sachet ingredients are all comminuted and/or powdered form.
8 oz. Orange flowers WH (whole)
4 oz. Spearmint WH
3 oz. Coriander seeds, crushed
2 oz. Calamus CS (cut & sifted)
2 oz. Vetiver roots CS
1 oz. Oakmoss CS
1 oz. Benzoin resin, crushed
Add some cotton balls or tips of Q-tips scented with Bergamot and Vetivert oil.

Mix this all together and age in a covered light-proof container. Occasionally, open the top of the container and let the lovely potpourri scent the room.

References
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Published by Krieger.
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992
http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/growing-vetiver-for-essential
http://www.bojensen.net/EssentialOilsEng/EssentialOils.htm
https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_chzi.pdf
https://www.nap.edu/read/2077/chapter/7
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California:
Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things. San Francisco, CA. 2009
Rose, Jeanne. Natural Botanical Perfumery Workbook. Available at http:///books.html
Rose, Jeanne. . Frog, Ltd. Berkeley, CA. 2000
Shaath, Nadima • Healing Civilizations; The Search for Therapeutic Essential Oils & Nutrients • Cameron+Co . 2017
Wikipedia on growth and morphology
http://www.vetiver.org/UP_Vetiver.htm

Abstracts/Scientific Data:
Evaluation of vetiver oil and seven insect-active essential oils against the Formosan subterranean termite. PubMed • Zhu, B C; Henderson, etc.
Modification of sleep-waking and electroencephalogram induced by vetiver essential oil inhalation
PubMed Central • Cheaha, Dania etc.
Constituents of south Indian vetiver oils. PubMed • Mallavarapu, Gopal Rao; etc.
Evaluation of DEET and eight essential oils for repellency against nymphs of the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae), Technology Transfer Automated Retrieval System (TEKTRAN)

Vetiver being harvested in China

~ JR ~

Patchouli EO & Hydrosol

Jan25

Synopsis: Patchouli is a well-known essential oil with both physical and emotional properties and a fascinating history of use on many continents.

Patchouli Essential Oil and Hydrosol Profile

By Jeanne Rose ~ February 2017

Patchouli Oils from Eden Botanicals

Common Name/Latin Binomial: Patchouli or Patchouly is from Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth.

Family: Lamiaceae

Other Common Name/Naming Information: The name patchouli comes from a Tamil word, paccilai, meaning “green leaf”. An alternate common name seen in some older references is pucha-pat. The name Pogostemon means Pogo or bearded and stemon or stamen of a flower and is sometimes described as meaning “bearded thread”. In Greek this refers to the hairy middles of the four stamens.

Countries of Origins: Grows in tropical areas, 80% of Patchouli oil is produced in Sumatra. Eden Botanicals sources Patchouli EO from Sri Lanka and Indonesia. It grows well in Hawaii, particularly Kauai but is more seasonal there.

Endangered or Not: Some Cautions. Patchouli is believed to be safe and not endangered. Avoid wild gathering. Please grow your own herbs in your own garden.

General description of Plant habitat and growth: The genus Pogostemon consists of some 30 or 40 species of shrubs, sub-shrubs, and herbaceous plants native to tropical Asia. Characteristics of the genus include flowers in whorls in the upper leaf axils; a tubular, five-toothed calyx; a tubular corolla with four nearly equal lobes, and one style with two stigmas. The fruits are four seed-like nutlets. It loves rain but the water has to drain away. It prefers open sunny areas and can be intermixed with corn or Palm trees to improve the thickness of the leaf and deter leginess of the stem. The leaves are known to accumulate essential oil in the glandular trichomes. It thrives in a damp, warm climate with even rainfalls. It exhausts the soil and needs new fertile ground regularly. It flourishes in low altitudes and slightly moist soil that is properly drained. Propagated by stem cuttings planted during the rainy season and protected against too much sunshine and weeds.

Patchouly plants ~ Patchouli leaves cured prior to distillation

Portion of the plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields: The leaves are picked the top leaves preferred. A stalk 10 inches long and about 1/8 in. thick with attached leaves is considered good distillation material. After cutting this is laid out to dry on a hard surface and turned frequently to promote even drying and curing. Drying may take 3 days. Press dry leaves into bales immediately. Aging/curing these bales may improve odor. Do let them ferment or mold. But aged leaves do slightly ferment and will yield more oil – but this is not preferred. They were originally steam-distilled in iron pots but now more often in stainless steel. When steam-distilled the essential oil is medium brown to dark brown. However, with the change to stainless steel stills, often the color of the essential oil is much more pale brown – golden.

Yield is about 3.5%.

Distillation: This is one of the few plants that is best dried before distillation. Thus you will not get a true hydrosol (with cellular water intact). Arctander states that to get a good yield of Patchouli, the cell walls need to rupture prior to the distillation. This can be done by light fermentation (not to mold), by scalding with superheated steam (like blanching a vegetable), or by stacking the dried leaves and thus ‘curing’ them. My suggestion to those who can grow Patchouly is to take a trip to a Patchouli distillery and watch and learn and then to try and do it yourself. Also, the original distillation was done in iron vessels which yielded a dark and richly scented oil. With copper or stainless steel distillation you will obtain less intense but possibly as tenacious an odor. There is more information on Distillation in Guenther’s The Essential Oil on page 563 of volume III.

In a recent FB post Ramakant Harlalka showed pictures of Patchouli distillation as said, “Patchouli distillation is art, science & technology. Here heat & mass transfer which are core area of Chemical engineering plays important role in cost & quality optimizations. There are few pictures on steam distillation where distillation vessel acts like bio reactor apart taking out oil from leaf. Pretreatments of fresh leaf and digestion of same in vessel through controlled heat makes constituents of Patchouli oil where minor components (《1%) makes unique amber odor of oil.”

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment: Three terpenoids Germacrene, Patchoulol or patchouli alcohol, Norpatchoulenol found in patchouli oil are responsible for the typical patchouli scent. Tenacity is one of the virtues of Patchouli oil but often its intensity (strength of odor) is low. The odor in quality Patchouli is floral, fruity, green herbaceous and spicy and more fully described as “possessing an extremely rich, sweet-herbaceous, aromatic-spicy and woody-balsamic odor with a wine-like presence.” At dry-down this same oil will retain a particularly sweet woody floral odor. It will not get tar-like. I suggest that you take a class from someone who has old (20 years old) Patchouli to really get an idea of what its odor is as much of what is sold now is very unpleasant.

General Properties: The herb is anti-insecticide, herb and oil are considered anti-dandruff and leech-repellent.

Via Inhalation: Nervine, anti-depressant, calmative. aphrodisiac, tonic and skin decongesting.

Via Application: Cytophylactic, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, tonic, antitoxic, and astringent.

Via Perfumery: It is of low intensity, but high tenacity and very useful as a base note and with great fixative quality.

Properties and Uses: Patchouli is said to cure apathy, ease confusion and indecision, heal dry skin, be healthful for the endocrine glands, be a nerve stimulant, can be seductive or aphrodisiac, for some it is stimulant, and historically it is rejuvenating.

EO Ingestion: Constipation, uterine tonic, and to eliminate toxins. (see warning) * It was once used as a flavoring agent in ‘Sen-Sen’ type of breath freshener with a licorice taste (these were small hard pieces of candy that was sucked to camouflage the breath-smell of alcohol or tobacco).

EO Application: In skin care products, it is used on dry, old, or wrinkled skin. It is rejuvenating, restorative, and invigorating to the skin. It is used as a fixative and has much value in perfumery. It is also useful for fungal infections, bacterial infections, dandruff, as an insect repellent, on insect bites, dermatitis, athlete’s foot, ringworm, parasites, and some use it in skin care to help eliminate skin toxins.

Energetic/Emotional Uses by Application or Inhalation: Inhaled Patchouli historically has been used to give peace of mind, relieve confusion, and be grounding. When inhaled Patchouli is used in ritual or emotionally to cure apathy, and indecision, as a seductive agent, and for grounding and in a positive ritual — to invigorate, become lucid and reasonable.
Diffuse/Diffusion: This essential oil mixes well with many oils to produce fragrant diffusions. With its sweet herbaceous and aromatically spicy odor it works with Cedarwoods, citrus oils, Clary Sage, Lavender, Rose Geranium, Sandalwood, Vetiver, and more. Think ahead of what your outcome will be and blend oils to suit the outcome.

Herbal Usage: Patchouli is an important herb which possesses many therapeutic properties and is also widely used in the fragrance industries. In traditional medicinal practices, the herb is used to treat colds, fevers, headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, insect and snake bites. See Jeanne Rose Herbs & Things.

Jeanne Rose’s Tomato Tales – Patchouli

Experience with this EO: Back in 1966, I lived in Big Sur as well as having a small apartment in Berkeley. In 1967, I lived in Big Sur but also in San Francisco while being involved in the rock ‘n roll world as a coutourière. In both Big Sur and San Francisco, Patchouli was the big ‘in’ thing as a deodorant. However, shaving under the arms was also ‘out’. So, personally, I found the odor of Patchouli to be retched and repugnant and it became personally inextricably linked in my mind to sweaty stinking hairy armpits and pushy-shove’y stoned fans. I disliked it then and disliked it for 30 years after and refused to use it in my work. But I had kept a 4-ounce bottle that I had purchased from Nature’s Herb Company and it lay unused until one-day I wanted to make a classic perfume. I pulled out the old Patchouli and smelled it and discovered its fragrant, rich, earthy odor — and found it ‘pleasant’. I still have some of that bottle for reference and realized that I hated Patchouli not for its odor but because of people smell who didn’t bathe enough and were using the odor to camouflage their own. It took me more years to really enjoy using it and now I depend on it in many a formula.

When I queried Monica Miller about Patchouli (as she had done a study of it a few years ago), she said, “I love it (Patchouli) as an ingredient in deodorant, it’s the oil that works best for me and it’s not at all about covering odor it really kills the bacteria that cause odor. But you know that. I just made an awesome massage oil with honeysuckle infused oil, patchouli, lavender, arnica. The patchouli is so sexy and musky in the blend.” I completely disagree with the information that Patchouli kills the bacteria that causes underarm odor but I am willing to defer to her assessment.

P.S. If you have never smelled Patchouli on an unwashed armpit, I strongly suggest that you avoid this as you would a plague. Use it diluted with other essential oils, use it in massage, use it in dilution, use it as you will. Also, do not equate the nasty synthetic patchouli with the real one, buy a Patchouli that you enjoy and put some of it away for the future. This oil ages well.

FORMULAS by Application, Massage and Skincare

Patchouli Green Bath (from New Age Creations, 1970)
3 oz. Patchouly, dried
3 oz. Orange leaf or Savory, dried
3 oz. Vetivert root, dried and C&S
2 oz. Linden flower/leaf, dried
2 oz. Strawberry or berry leaf, dried
2 oz. Comfrey or Parsley leaf, dried

Patchouly is commonly used for its rejuvenating effect on the senses. Orange leaf sharpens the awareness, Vetivert is a tonic stimulant, Linden in the bath cools the head and soothes restlessness, Strawberry eases aches and pains in the hips and is mildly astringent, Comfrey and Parsley are healing and rejuvenative. Mix all together. Take a large handful (1/2 oz.) and place in pot with 1 qt. of water. Bring to simmer for 10 minutes and strain the solution into the tub.
Take the moist herbs, wrap in washcloth and use to exfoliate your skin.
Soak in the herbal waters at least 20 minutes.
All in all, one of the best formulas from my early skin care company New Age Creations.

More bath formulas are in my Herbal Body Book.

Soap Used as a bug repellent:

When I queried people in the herbal/EO world about their uses for Patchouli, I got a few responses about Patchouli oil being a bug repellent and a deodorant. Jacqueline Alberti gave me this formula for making soap using a melt and pour base with 7.5 ml of dark Indonesian Patchouli per pound of the base. She said, “I find when I use the EO (Patchouli) in soap the mosquitoes don’t bother me even 8 or 10 hours after showering”.

Psoriasis Formula

In a Seaweed (Fucoidan) based lotion add 5-10% mixture of Patchouli, Vetiver and Calophyllum inophyllum, Tamanu, from Madagascar. — Sheila Jacaman

Blends Best with: Patchouli blends best with many other essential oils and absolutes including Basil, Bergamot, most Citrus, Geranium Rose, Juniper, Labdanum, Lavender, Myrrh, Neroli, Sandalwood, and Rose.

BLENDING with formula. In perfumery use Patchouli in thoughtful amounts as a base note. Elizabeth Lind says, “Patchouli and Oak Moss are my favorite base notes, smells like the forest floor of the Santa Cruz Mountains.”

Patchouli Limerick

I have a good friend named SueLee
She makes perfumes from Patchouli
It smells of Hay
Or so they say
But smelling leads to deeds unruly~JeanneRose2015

Three Patchouli Perfumery Formulas

#1 Brown Sugar Formula can be composed of various amounts of these essential oils: Lemon, Neroli,
Patchouli, Tangerine. Of course you know that there could be thousands of variations depending of where the ingredients were grown, how grown, pressed or distilled but these main ingredients combined is the essence of brown sugar that is sweet and fortifying but also uplifting and refreshing. Use this formula as an inhalant or in blends — for aftershave, astringent tonics, face wash or a sweet massage. Start by mixing 1 drop of each ingredient, succussing, waiting and building up the formula one drop at a time.

#2 Chypre (sheep ra) The word “chypre” derives from the island of Cyprus which is located in the Mediterranean. It was for many centuries the meeting point of the East and West (Turkey and Greece) for the trade of aromatic materials. During the 1800’s it became famous for the production of perfumes that contained and combined the Mediterranean essences of citrus, floral pomades, and Labdanum with the resins and gums of Arabia, such as Styrax, Frankincense, Opopanax and Myrrh. Animal products were also traded such as civet from the civet cat of Ethiopia and musk from the musk deer from the Himalayas. These animal products were and are some of the worlds’ most valued perfume commodities.

Originally, the word chypre would have been used to describe a style of perfumery associated with the island of Cyprus. Today, however, it refers rather more specifically to a group of perfumes whose origins can be traced back to the great Chypre by Coty that was created in 1917. Truly an Art Deco scent. Today, these scents are no longer much in fashion, but we can make a Chypre scent to experience those perfumes that existed 100 years ago. [Read Natural Botanical Perfumery by Jeanne Rose for more information about Chypre and many more Chypre formulas.

Chypre is a fragrance family – a complex of moss mixed with woods, flowers or fruit odors. A Chypre fragrance contains “Oakmoss absolute”, Bergamot and often Labdanum and Patchouli. Mix the following together, succuss, let the blend sit quietly for a few weeks to integrate and become a true synergy where no one scent is dominant over another but all are mixed to make a brand-new odor.

CHYPRE #2 –Patchouli
Top Note
15 Bergamot CP

Heart Note
18 Sandalwood Australia or Hawaii SD
6 Rosa bourbonia ABS

Bridge Note
3 Oakmoss ABS
3 Labdanum ABS

Base Note
15 Patchouli SD

#3 The Dark Green Woods
Salvia sclarea flowers                      4 drops = top note
Citrus paradisi var. white peel       3 drops = heart note
Citrus x limon var. bergamot peel 2 drops = heart note
Cupressus sempervirens leaves     3 drops = bridge note
Pogostemon cablin leaves             5 drops = base note
Mix together and succuss. Let sit for a week and then add up to 45 drops of carrier or alcohol as a diluent. Succuss again. Let sit for a week. Use as a perfume. This will be 25% perfume ingredients.

All these ingredients available in small sizes from Eden Botanicals.

HYDROSOL: This is one of the few plants that is best dried before distillation. Thus you will not get a true hydrosol (with cellular water intact). Patchouli hydrosol can be used as a hair spray for a temporary solution from the static in curly hair! I’m sure any hydrosol would be nice, but there is something about patchouli —Christina Smith

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

Patchouly Oils over 44 years time

Historical Uses: Patchouli has a lovely history. The scent was introduced into Europe from Asia via the odor of the cashmere shawls. The Patchouli plant leaves had been used to protect cashmere shawls from insect predation. From about 1775 high quality cashmere shawls had begun to find their way to France and England. They were brought by travelers, explorers and military personnel as well as members of the East India Company, who brought them back as presents. François Bernier, a friend of Moliere and Cyrano de Bergerac was the first European of the modern era to see and describe the traditional cashmere shawl. The Cashmere shawl became the rage and great sums of money were spent to obtain them. Then the hunt was on to identify the odor of the shawls and the plants that made the odor. Once this had happened perfumers sought the plant, distilled it for the scent and this scent made its way into the perfume bottles of the era and thus onto the people of that time.

Interesting Information: “Possibly originated in Malaysia although the word apparently comes from the south Indian Tamil language, patch, meaning ‘green’, and ilai meaning ‘leaf’. Patchouli means bearded stamen…375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols, p. 21. Patchouli herb is used for scenting carpets, shawls and woven materials, and for perfuming ink and sealing wax, as well as for perfume and medicine. Wrapping fabrics in Patchouli herb has been a practice for a thousand years. Patchouli oil benefits from long storage and definitely improves with age. Old Patchouli (10 years and more old) smells sweeter and better than newly distilled Patchouli.

Chemical Components: Patchouli is a very complex odor with three terpenoids making up the primary scent but also with dozens of other chemical components.
These three terpenoids Germacrene, Patchoulol or patchouli alcohol, Norpatchoulenol, found in patchouli oil are responsible for the typical patchouli scent. In one study 41 compounds were separated, 28 of which (92.9% of the total oil) were identified. There are several GC/MS on line that can be looked at.

Physiochemical Properties: There are many examples of the physical and chemical properties of Patchouly online and in Guenthers’ book, The Essential Oils. They vary by where the plant is grown and processed and distilled. Here is one from a European distillation.

Specific Gravity …………. 0.975 to 0.987
Optical Rotation ……….. —54°0’ to —65°30’
Refractive Index at 20°. 1.5099 to 1.5111
Solubility at 20° ……….. Soluble in 0.5 vol. and more of 90% alcohol

Abstract/Scientific Data: There is an extensive article about Patchouli online, called “Review — A Comprehensive Review on the Phytochemical Constituents and Pharmacological Activities of Pogostemon cablin Benth.: An Aromatic Medicinal Plant of Industrial Importance by Mallappa Kumara Swamy and Uma Rani Sinniah.”

Contraindications: The Material Safety Data Sheet, or MSDS, for Patchouli oil indicates it is hazardous if ingested. If the oil is swallowed, contact Poison Control immediately. As with any oil-based material, do not induce vomiting as the oil could enter the victim’s lungs during vomiting. However, once was widely used as a flavorant in oriental-style flavorings.

Another Patchouli Limerick

I know a man who is a bully
He loves the Jasmine unruly
In the garden he’s the pest
Beats the bugs and then rests
And thinks of perfumes made of Patchouli.—JeanneRose2015

References:
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Arctander. 1960
Coombs, Allen J. Dictionary of Plant Names. Timber Press. 1995
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publishing. Florida. 1976
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol. IAG Botanics. 2015 (supporter of testing hydrosols)
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose. San Francisco California, 1992
Chakrapani. P, et al • Phytochemical, Pharmacological importance of Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth) an aromatic medicinal plant •Int. J. Pharm. Sci. Rev. Res., 21(2), Jul –Aug 2013; nᵒ 02, 7-15
Jessee, Jill. Perfume Album. Robert E. Krieger Publ. Co. 1951.
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Mojay, Gabriel. Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1999.
Poucher, W.A. Perfumes and Cosmetics. D. Van Nostrand Company. 1923
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California.
Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things. Last Gasp Press (ask them to republish it)

Safety Precautions:
Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapist suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

*Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally. Essential oils can come from many sources including areas that are heavily farmed and/or sprayed with toxic pesticides and defoliants.

Patchouli flowers, south-facing, 410 feet elevation, photo by Willie Shook, Kilauea, Hawaii, 1-12-17

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

~ JR ~

JUNIPER BERRY EO/HYDROSOL

Dec4

Many benefits and uses come from the female seed cone that produces Juniper “berries”; the properties including delightful information by Jeanne Rose is fascinating and useful.

Juniper Berry Essential Oil/ Hydrosol Profile

By Jeanne Rose ~ 12/25/16

Common Name/Latin Binomial and Family: Juniper berry, Juniperus communis is in the evergreen or conifer family, Cupressaceae, it is the berry oil, the essential oil that is steam-distilled from the merged scales of the cone, the berries, that we usually just call Juniper oil.
However, there are other Juniper trees of the genus Juniperus that are also commercially used just not in the same way, such as (Juniperus virginiana often called –cedar or pencil Cedar). Do not confuse these two oils.

Name: Juniperus simply means Juniper and communis means common.

Some Other Commonly used Junipers: J. bermudiana L. timber for pencils; J. californica Carr. berries for gin or hydrosol; J. cedrus Webb & berth. In the Canary Island forest; J. chinensis L. ornamental and berries for gin; J. communis L. the common Juniper berries used to flavor gin and liqueurs and eaten with meat, there is a French form has rather sweet berries that I prefer to use to flavor drinks; J. excelsa M, Bieb. used as medicine; J. occidentalis Hook., the wood is used in fencing and berries to flavor local liquor; J. oxycedrus L., the heartwood that gives the parasiticidal oil of Cade through a destructive distillation; J. sabina L., the twigs are medicinal and insecticidal and berries are toxic; and

J. virginiana L. incorrectly named ‘cedar’ or red cedar and native to North America the wood of which is used to make pencils, making medicinals and wood for insect-proof chests and small pieces placed among clothing, the oil used to scent soap and it has many cultivars. This oil/hydrosol was profiled in Jeanne-blog.com https://jeanne-blog.com/cedar-wood-virginia/

**fig. 1. JR photo of Juniperus occidentalis from Oregon**

Countries of Origins: Juniperus communis, the common juniper, is a species of conifer that has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a distribution throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic south in mountains to around 30° N latitude in North America, Europe and Asia. Relict populations can be found in the Atlas Mountains of Africa.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location: Juniper berry organic from Bulgaria; Juniper berry CO_2,cultivated and kosher grown in India; and Juniper leaf/branch grown in Slovenia.

Endangered or Not: Common Juniper (Juniperus communis, is threatened or endangered in a number of states. Bermuda Cedar, Bermuda Red Cedar, Bermuda Juniper bermudiana, this species is currently listed as Critically Endangered.

General description of Plant habitat and growth: Evergreen shrub or tree growing up to eighteen feet with narrow, stiff, prickly needles and little brown cones called berries that turn black in the second or third year. The common Juniper, Juniperus communis, is a native to the Northern Hemisphere. “…A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of junipers. It is not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged scales, which give it a berry-like appearance. The cones from a handful of species, especially the Juniperus communis, are used as a tasty spice, and also give gin its distinctive flavor.
Juniper berries have been called the only spice derived from the conifers although tar and inner bark from pine trees is sometimes considered a spice as well….” —Wikipedia

Portion of the plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields: The essential oil is either a CO₂ extract or a a steam distillation of the berries (merged scales) and has a very rich, deep aroma. The ripe fruit is dried, crushed, or slightly dried, and then steam distilled or it is carbon dioxide extracted or the leaf and branch is hydro-distilled.
Yield: 0.2-2.0% for the berry oil.

Organoleptic Characteristics:
Color: the Juniper berry can be a rich Golden Yellow to a colorless oil; the Juniper berry CO₂ is a pale yellow to dark yellow, while the Juniper leaf/branch oil is colorless.
Clarity: Clear
Viscosity: Non-viscous, although I have experienced a few berry oils that were somewhat viscous.
Intensity of Odor: leaf is a 3, CO₂ is a 3-4 and the SD berry oil will be 4-5.
[Scale is 1-10 with 10 being the most intense]
Taste: herby, bitter, Astringent

Aroma Assessment: The scent of Juniper berry depends upon terroir. If it is from France it often has a citrus and fruity back note whereas when it is from the USA it has an herbaceous and sometimes mild camphoraceous back note. The three I photographed and smelled most recently; the leaf/branch oil was quite herby and a conifer needle scent, Juniper berry was woody and herbaceous and the CO₂ herby and citrus. But each was different from the other. I suggest that you first purchase samples and choose the one you like the best to use.

fig. 2. Juniper Oil of leaf and berry – courtesy Eden Botanicals

Properties of the Essential Oil

(General Properties and Uses) of juniper berry and leaf oil: Properties are by IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application). By application the properties are antiseptic, diuretic, emmenagogue, antiparasitic, tonic, and depurative (purifying) and by Ingestion they are diuretic, depurative, and antiseptic; by Inhalation it is tonic, brain tonic, and respiratory expectorant.
General Uses: It is an expectorant and antiseptic and can be used externally as a cleanser, and in massage oils and cosmetics. It has been used as a medication for urinary problems, genital warts, itchy vulva or jock itch in the form of a sitz bath. Juniper berry essential oil can be taken in very small amounts to act as a diuretic for cystitis and to detoxify the body, but a tea of the berries is more highly recommended, especially mixed with Rosemary herb and Fennel seed. Juniper berries, 1 or 2, can be eaten as an aid to jet lag or for ‘change of location’.

I view aromatherapy as a branch of herbalism,
and learning when use of the herb is preferable to use of the essential oil.
This is an important aspect of aromatherapy training.

Specific Physical Uses & How used (IG or AP):

Application: It is antiseptic and used externally as a cleanser and for problem skin. It may also be diluted and applied for pain relief for arthritis, rheumatism, sciatica or to relieve itchy vulva, jock itch, acne, eczema, and premenstrual bloating. Juniper berry or leaf is a valuable addition to skin and body care products due to its astringent and antiseptic qualities and is a wonderful addition in an astringent cleanser for the skin it and a wonderful odor and deodorizer in men’s products.
Inhalation: to alleviate mental exhaustion, in a blend for asthma, hay fever, and nervous tension.
•Ingestion: Juniper Berry oil may be taken internally, in very small amounts. It helps the body release fluids and is used for obesity, urinary infections, and gout. It is used in tiny amounts as a diuretic for cystitis, to detoxify the body (depurative), and for overindulgence of food. (1 drop/herbal capsule such as Marshmallow root). It is used in the making of Gin and in flavoring meat foods.

Emotional Uses or Energetic Uses: Juniper Berry oil is inhaled to aid the memory, and to visualize being guarded from negativity and danger or use in a bath for depleted energy. I quite like this oil as a ‘change of location’ scent — to inhale or to eat a berry when flying and even to alleviate jet lag.

Diffuse/Diffusion: Juniper berry oil can be diffused in a blend with other oils that are less intense in scent, such as Rosemary, Lavender, citrus oils. It has a very cleansing effect on the air, is refreshing and helpful for concentration in a work space.
Perfumery: I especially prefer the Juniper berry oil from France in perfumery where it works well with citrus scents such as Bergamot and with Lavender and other conifers and when using Juniper berry from the U.S. I use it with base notes such as Galbanum and Oakmoss
HYDROSOL Properties and Uses: The USA sample was tested and was largely camphor and terpinene-4-ol with smaller amounts of borneol and other components. This Juniper hydrosol would be wonderful in the bath for aches and pains or as a compress for injuries. European Juniper hydrosol might better be used in facial care and toners and air sprays.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most of which are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh. Also, a hydrosol does not have the same components as does the essential oil, the components are often very different and in very much smaller amounts.

fig. 3. Juniper berries

~ FAVORITE RECIPES ~

Jeanne’s Favorites Uses of the herb, oil and hydrosol: I use Juniper berries whenever I travel. I just chew a few as sort of an anti-jetlag food, or I chew one to make my breath taste better. For these uses I need to use the sweet Juniper berries that come from France. I also use the Juniper berries (especially the ones from the NW or here in California) as an ingredient in my famous ‘Bruise Juice’. It is remarkable for adding more anti-pain therapeutics to my product. Regarding the essential oil, I add it equally to Sage oil, Basil oil, Cypress oil and Rosemary oil as an application for aching muscles and for temporary external use for pain-relief from sports injuries like painful legs, arms, golf elbow, etc.

Jeanne Rose Skin Care Formula

For aging skin, dry skin, sensitive skin or acneic skin,
Use a few drops of the following daily as an application before going outside.
Mix all together carefully before using.

6 drops sweet high altitude Lavender
4 drops true Clary Sage from the flowers
1 drop Galbanum
5 drops sweet Juniper berry
32 drops of your favorite carrier or lotion.

Jeanne Rose’s Tomato Tales with Juniper Berry: I have used Juniper berry oil, the berry (herb), and hydrosol for as long as I have used anything and have never had an unpleasant or wildly or even a mildly memoristic experience with them that I can remember. It is one of the easiest herbs and oils to use. In food the berry is delicious particularly with meats and fowl, the oil works great in massage blends to relieve muscle pain and the hydrosol is just a wonderful addition to the bath for skin cleansing.

Key Use: The oil of Edema. [for obesity, urinary infections, skin problems, arthritis, and gout and massage for aching muscles]

Chemical Components: Constituents: Juniper berry essential oil contains 8% resins; 0.4% Juniperene; Pinene and Terpinenes. Monoterpenes (which make up most of the essential oil) alpha- and beta-pinene, sabinene, limonene, terpinene-4-ol, alpha-terpineol, borneol, geraniol, myrcene, camphene, camphor, alpha-eudesmol and many others.

Sesquiterpenes such as beta-caryophyllene, delta-cadinene, Diterpenes, Neolignan glycosides, lignan (podophyllotoxin is present and is toxic to the nerves, gut and liver), tannins, flavonoids, resin in the essential oil include cedrene, alpha-pinene pectin, sabinene, cedrol, myrcene, terpinene-4-ol, limonene, beta-phellandrene, alpha-terpinene, gamma-terpinene, beta-pinene, alpha-eudesmol which may inhibit calcium channels and appears to be neuroprotective in a stroke model.

Antifungal compounds are found in the juniper parts such as oidiolactone C. Isocrupressic acid in Juniperus communis has been identified as an active abortifacient compound, Alpha- and beta-cedrene from Juniperus occidentalis have antimicrobial activity.

Historical Uses and Interesting Information: Common juniper was used by Native Americans of the Great Basin as a blood tonic. Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest used tonics made from the branches to treat colds, flu, arthritis, muscle aches, and kidney problems. Cones were used by the southern Kwakiutl of British Columbia for treating stomach ailments and wood or bark was used to treat respiratory problems. The Interior Salish used cones to make medicines for a variety of ailments. Eurasians made tonics from common juniper for kidney and stomach ailments, and for muscular uses and rheumatism.
Common juniper contains a volatile oil, terpinene-4-ol, which is known to increase kidney action. Common juniper extract, which can be fatal in even fairly small amounts, was used to make gin and as a meat preservative. Common juniper is highly valued as an ornamental plant and is widely cultivated and provides good ground cover even on stony or sandy sites. This species was first cultivated in 1560.

Contraindications: Do not confuse Juniper berry oil with Cade oil from Juniperus oxycedrus or the toxic oil from Juniperus sabina. Juniper berry oil and herb (Juniperus communis) is contraindicated in those patients with reduced renal function.

References:
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol. botANNicals. 2015
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/juncom/all.html
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/life-science/nutrition-research/learning-center/plant-profiler/juniperus-communis.html

**fig. 4. Jeanne Rose photo of J. communis in Golden Gate Park**

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapist suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

fig. 5. Botanical illustration of Juniper communis

~ JR ~

Pines EO~Hydrosol

Nov2

Synopsis: Pine profile with hydrosol, origin, storage, organoleptic and chemistry as well as collective information and aroma assessment. Formulas include perfume, skin care, hair care and stories.

Pine Needle Profile

Scotch Pine and Piñon Pine – Hydrosol

See these other blog posts for the Conifer Needles.
https://jeanne-blog.com/evergreens-their-similars/ • https://jeanne-blog.com/firs-profile-and-hydrosol/

https://jeanne-blog.com/black-spruce-profile-hydrosol/ • https://jeanne-blog.com/?s=Douglas+Fir

Common Name/ Latin Name/ Country of Origin:

Scots pine or Scotch pine is from the evergreen coniferous tree correctly called Pinus sylvestris. It is native to Eurasia but is now grown in multiple areas.
Pine, Piñon or Pinyon Pine is a native tree of the southwest area of USA and northern Mexico There are several species of this tree but mainly Pinus edulis is the one that is used for its essential oil.

Pinon Pine gum

Endangered or not: Some species of Pinyon Pine are considered endangered due to over-harvesting for nuts and wood. In regards to Scots pine, it is of least concern.

Safety Precautions: Use these oils moderately in your blends and perfumes. Remember that the conifer needle oils contain alpha- and beta-pinene and have been known to cause sensitivity and skin irritation in some.

Storage: Keep in a cool dry place and replace every year or so.

samples courtesy of Eden Botanicals

Aroma Assessment/Organoleptics: These two oils although very similar in chemistry are very different in their scent profile. Both are colorless, clear, non-viscous, intensity on the low side about 3-4 and with a bitter, somewhat sweet taste. Both have a green, herbal and fruity odor. However, whereas the Pinus sylvestris is really very much an airy woodsy odor, the Pinus edulis was fruitier with a delicious high note that tasted edible.

Best method of application or what do you use each individual Pine for: Pinus sylvestris is considered to have qualities for convalescence, inhaled for bronchitis, sinusitis and asthma. and is used to tone the respiratory system, or as application in a massage blend. It is a hypertensive, tonic stimulant. Pinyon Pine could be used in the same way, both as an inhalation or an application for aching muscles or pain.

Portion of the plant used in distillation, how it’s distilled, extracted and yields:
“Needles of the Pine, the adult leaves, are green (photosynthetic), and bundled in clusters (fascicles) of 1–6, commonly 2–5 needles together, and when you look at them from the bottom when detached, they look like a perfect circle. The needles persist for 1.5–40 years, depending on species. If a shoot is damaged (e.g. eaten by an animal), the needle fascicles just below the damage will generate a bud which can then replace the lost leaves.”
Pinus sylvestris, Scotch Pine, Norway Pine is a tall, evergreen, up to 150 feet with attractive, reddish-brown, deeply fissured bark with long, stiff needles that grow in pairs. The Essential oil is produced mainly in the Baltic states. The components are greatly influenced by geographical origin and consist mainly of Monoterpenes, Pinene, some Limonene. Needles are steam- or hydro-distilled. Yield varies widely depending on the source from 0.25 to 0.47% and 0.25–0.49% in the current-year and one-year-old needles of pine, respectively.
Piñon Pine. This is a very interesting historic tree whose needles and gum is steam or hydro distilled. Yield is about .05 to .1%. It is a small to medium sized tree with a furrowed and scaly bark and whose needles come in pairs. The cones are green then ripen to yellow. The edible seeds are harvested from many types of Pinyon Pine. There are many species used by Native Americans depending on the area of growth. The tree was only recently described (about 1848).

Pinon Pine tree

Pinon Pine is a historic tree of the Native Americans as it was a staple food, the resin was used in ritual, and the pinyon jay ate the nuts and this was important in the dispersal of seeds and regeneration of the tree.

Hydrosol Use of Pine: Most hydrosols have not as yet been tested as to what components they do or do not contain. Contrary to what several well-known aromatherapy experts say, hydrosols do not contain the same components as their essential oils but in less quantity. Here, in the case of Pinyon Pine, the EO contains mainly alpha and beta pinene while the hydrosol contains alpha-terpineol, terpinene-4-ol and borneol. Using hydrosols is easy: baths, compresses, wound cleansers.

Spray to refresh the air as the small airborne molecules disperse readily, particularly in cars or airplanes (don’t use too much), rinse to disinfect your hands, a slight spray on clothes after removing from the dryer creates a nice refreshing change, use in fingerbowls after your formal dinner, use in small amounts in creams and lotions to add therapy to the product.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh. AND “the very best hydrosols are the ones you distill yourself, for you or your loved ones.”—A. Harman from ”Harvest to Hydrosol”.

Chemistry: Piñon Pine usual GC/MS shows very high levels of terpenes; alpha-pinene up to 65% and beta-pinene to 8%, as well as small amounts of carene and myrcene and oxides of cineol to 11%. This shows its value in inhalation therapy and for healing. Scots Pine α-Pinene (18.5-33.0%) and δ-3-carene (9.1-24.6%) were dominating constituents.

Collective and interesting information: Pine honey is a particular type of honey that the honey bees produce, not on the basis of nectar or pollen, as is the case for other types of honey, but by using the honeydew excreted by an insect, an aphid named Marchalina hellenica, which lives by sucking on the sap of certain pine species, and leaves the honeydew on the trunks of these trees. Pine honey is produced in western (mainly southwestern) Turkey, in a number of Greek islands and in New Zealand.

alchemical-symbol-for-honey-beeswax

The pine species on which Marchalina hellenica can be found are the Turkish Pine (Pinus brutia) and, to smaller extent, Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis), Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Stone Pine (Pinus pinea). The insects hide in the cracks and under the scales of the bark of these trees, beneath a white cotton-like wax they secrete.

Pinyon wood, especially when burned, has a distinctive fragrance, making it a common wood to burn in chimneys. The pinyon pine trees are also known to influence the soil in which they grow by increasing concentrations of both macronutrients and micronutrients.

Pines are long-lived, and typically reach ages of 100–1,000 years, some even more. The longest-lived is the Great Basin Bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva. One individual of this species, dubbed “Methuselah”, is one of the world’s oldest living organisms at around 4,600 years old. This tree can be found in the White Mountains of California. An older tree, now cut down, was dated at 4,900 years old. It was discovered in a grove beneath Wheeler Peak and it is now known as “Prometheus” after the Greek immortals.

Recipes for all Sorts of things.

Perfume ~ A lovely simple scent can be made by blending 20 drops of Pinus edulis, 10 drops of Clary Sage and 2-5 drops of Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) or Balsam Fir absolute. When you have blended and used succussion to mix them and then aged your blend at least a week, smell the blend and then add more of each of the oils as you wish.

Skincare ~ I am particularly fond of using any of the Pine or Fir hydrosols in the bathtub with me. I fill the bath with warm water, add 4 to 8 oz. of hydrosol (even a little Rosemary for the anti-aging effect) and then add small Pine or Redwood branches (no more than inches long), throw in my yellow rubber ducky and then get in with a good book and read for a while. The steamy water lets off a refreshing forest scent, my skin gets tonified and glorified, my mind clears and I am ready for the rest of the day.

Haircare ~ Have you been out in the sun too long or have icy winds dried out your hair? Use a 50•50 combination of any Pine oil + Rosemary verbenone and then take a drop of this and add to your usual hair oil — you will only need 1 drop per ounce of oil. Rub on y our hands and then massage your scalp, gently pulling your fingers through your hair. Finish with a nice brush-out and you will have shiny hair with less dry-out.
Jeanne Rose tips and tricks. Also posted in the Black Spruce profile.

Sequential Inhalation (A Treatment)
By Jeanne Rose – 1986

There are six essential oils that I particularly like for colds and flus and include Black Spruce (stimulate the adrenal), Eucalyptus radiata (expectorant and mucolytic or liquefies the mucus in the lungs), Douglas-Fir (antiseptic and disinfectant, Rosmarinus pyramidalis (sinus cleanser and relief), Ravensara aromatica (antiseptic, antiviral), and Fir or Pine, any species as a (cleanser and respiratory tonic).
When there is any sort of respiratory congestion, it is good to inhale the essential oils in hot water. Your mother probably taught you to do this. You will need a pot, water, essential oils and a towel. Bring two cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Bring the pot to the table. Cover your head with a towel over the pot making a tent. Now add one drop of essential oil at a time to the pot. Inhale one at a time until the scent is gone and then add the second oil. Continue until you have used all six oils. Use the oils in the sequence as given above. This will take about six minutes. Do not add more than one drop of essential oil at a time. Inhale the scent until the scent is gone (about one minute). [If you add more than one drop at a time you will probably gag and cough which is not a healthy act and not what you want.
Inhale through the mouth, exhale through the nose; then inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Alternate throughout the procedure. This gives the essential oils a chance to cleanse both the sinus area and the throat and lungs. —using this Jeanne Rose method since 1990.

pinyon-scotch-pine

Another Amazing Tomato Tale ~ While on a walking excursion in northern California near Weaverville some years ago, my companion brought me to what he said was the ‘biggest’ Pine tree of the area. Thankfully, I have kept this picture of the tree as several years later it was blasted with a lightning bolt and split and fell in the forest. What a mighty beautiful Pine tree.

jeanne-big-pine

Bibliography:

Britton, Lord and Hon. Addison Brown • An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Vol. II • (New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1970.)
Franchomme, P. and Pénoël, Docteur D • L’Aromatherapie Exactement • (Limoges, France: Roger Jollois Editeur, 1990.)
Guenther, Ernest, Ph.D. • The Essential Oils • (Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company 1976) (original edition 1952.) (in VI volumes)
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol, botannicals, 2015
Rose, Jeanne • The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations • (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 3rd edition, 1994.)
• 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols • (San Francisco, CA: Jeanne Rose Aromatherapy, 3rd edition, 1994)
Sudworth, George B. • Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope • (New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1967.)
Tutin, Heywood, Burgers, Moore, Valentine, Walters and Webb, Editors • Flora Europea, Vol 4 • (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1976.)

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapists suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

~JR~

Tonka Bean EOP

Jul13

TONKA BEAN EOP

By Jeanne Rose ~ 7-07-16

Tonka Bean Synopsis: Tonka Bean information including growing, properties, uses with tobacco, blending bits, perfume formulas and recipes.

Tonka-EO-butter OPT

Common Name/Latin Binomial: Dipteryx odorata (Aubl.) Willd. Tonka Bean

Other Common Name/Naming Information: Tonka Bean was named by the French explorer, botanist and pharmacist Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet (1720-1778). It is also called Tonkin beans or tonquin beans.

Family: Fabaceae, the pea family

Countries of Origins: Tonka bean is exclusively a tropical American species. Some of the world’s largest producers are Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location: Brazil

Endangered or Not: not extinct but heavily harvested in some countries.

General description of Plant habitat and growth: Tonka trees are large with a canopy and usually grow up to a height of 30 meters in the Amazon rainforest region. Tonka flowers every five years, has fragrant seeds that are cured in rum and used for scenting Tobacco and snuff. The beans are long, oval, black and wrinkly and have a smooth, brown interior. The fragrance is strong and similar to sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) because of the high content of coumarin.

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields: Harvesting takes place in the forests, and the tree is not cultivated. The fruits ripen in the winter and fall off the tree naturally. They are gathered from February to April and processed locally in the forest: the nut and its pulp are broken with a stone tool to recover the bean, which has brown skin and is ivory white inside. Tonka is expressed, extracted or tinctured or the beans used whole. The beans are up to 50% fatty oil. The annual production of Tonka beans varies from 60 to 100 tons, depending on the year, and is heavily influenced by climatic variations. Grown in South America, shipped to France where the absolute is produced. The butter is handled differently.

Organoleptic Characteristics of
Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment: The solvent extracted absolute belongs in the coumarin-hay family of odor and has a sweet hay, and honey scent. The butter is a light floral followed by the scent of bitter Almond.

General Properties: Tonka bean is considered a narcotic and cardiac tonic (although in large doses it paralyzes the heart). —Herbs & Things, p.111. Used as a flavoring for tobacco, snuff and butter and to scent sachets and potpourris.

Properties and Uses: This plant has been used medicinally in the past but because of the coumarin content this usage has been abandoned. The bean butter is antiseptic, expectorant and the oil is fragrant used in perfumery. Because of the coumarin content the bean, butter and oil are considered an insect repellent.

Application/ Skincare (formula at end): Scrapings of the bean mixed with other ingredients are used in bath soaks, perfumes and misting products.

Diffuse/Diffusion: not diffused

Emotional/Energetic Use: Love charm; the use of the bean is considered aphrodisiac.

Key Use: Perfumery although in some countries it is used in tiny amounts to flavor food. Some call it the ‘Oil of Initiation’.

Chemical Components: largely coumarin: To liberate the coumarin, the beans are processed by soaking in alcohol (rum) for 24 hours and drying, whereby a fermentation process takes place. Afterwards, the coumarin content may be as high as 10%. Coumarin crystals are visible below the epidermis of the seed.

Coumarin glycosides occur in several plants; upon wilting or drying, coumarin is liberated. For example, coumarin contributes to the pleasant smell of fresh dried hay. Woodruff (Asperula odorata) has high coumarin content and is sometimes used to flavor alcoholic drinks in Western Europe and the US. It has come out of use, though. Coumarin is toxic and causes serious though reversible liver damage in high dosages or if applied regularly over some time; toxic doses range around one gram, but some individuals are more susceptible. For more information, please look in Herbs & Things p. 111.

Comparison of Main Components of Tonka Bean: Lactones [lactone]- are temperature reducing and generally a fruity odor. By INHalation – mucolytic; by EXTernal use- skin sensitizing such as the Massoia lactone. The lactone Coumarin (2-hydroxycinnamic acid lactone) in Hay abs and Tonka Beans is anticoagulant, hypotensive, phototoxic, relaxant, sedative, nerve tonic, general tonic.

The Tonka Butter is comprised of 94-96% fatty acids, Oleic acid is the predominant fatty acid present in Tonka Bean Butter (nearly 50%)and gives the Omega 9 series; though not essential, oleic acid is a hydrating material and is conducive to cell regeneration. Other fatty acids found in Tonka Bean Butter are Linoleic acid, 12 -16%; Behenic acid, 12 – 15.5%; Lignoceric acid, 7 – 9.5%; Palmitic acid, 6 – 8.5%; and several others.

Physiochemical Properties ~ Tonka Bean Butter:

Solubility = Buchner states that it is readily soluble in fatty and essential oils.
Specific Gravity at 100° C = 0.888
Optical Rotation – not found
Refractive Index at 20° – not found

Blends Best with: Bergamot, Blood or Bitter Orange, Clary Sage, Champa, Mimosa and/or Cassie, any of the Chamomiles, Helichrysum, Lemon, Tobacco Absolute, Ylang Ylang. It is easy to work with Tonka Bean in the creation of certain fern blends.

HYDROSOL: This author has not found a Tonka bean hydrosol.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most of which are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

Historical Uses: Extracted with water to make a coumarin extract.

Interesting Information: Tonka beans are used in love magic because they have that unique vanilla odor but the warning is that one should never, ever crush the bean for the magic to work. They are also used as a good luck charm and should be carried on the person.

Contradictions: Allergen

Safety Precautions: Use with care, dilute before using.

Do not Ingest Essential Oils: I do not recommend the internal use of Perfumery materials for therapeutic purposes.

Tonka Beans

Tonka Beans References:
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992
http://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Tonka-Bean-73.html

Regulating Safety of Traditional and Ethnic Foods edited by V. Prakash, Olga Martin-Belloso, Larry Keener, Siân B. Astley, Susanne Braun, Helena McMahon, Huub Lelieveld

Bibliography
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Arctander. 1960
Coombs, Allen J. Dictionary of Plant Names. Timber Press. 1995
Deite, Dr. C. A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture of Perfumery. Henry Carey Baird & Co., Philadelphia, 1892.
Franchomme, P. l’aromatherapie exactement. R. Jollois: France, 1990
Lawless, Julia. The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils. Element: Massachusetts, 1992
Rose, Jeanne. . Grosset & Dunlap: New York, 1992
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, CA.,
Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things. In spiral bound format from Jeanne Rose from a 1972 1^st Edition
Rose, Jeanne. Natural Botanical Perfumery. San Francisco, Ca. 2014

Scientific Data: See Prakash

JEANNE ROSE PERSONAL USES:

Tonka tincture for perfumery: In my collection is a lovely old book, dated 1892 that has a very useful perfumery tincture from Tonka beans. Put 1 oz. of the beans without comminuting or or removing the crystals adhering to them, into a flask, add 6 oz. of the finest alcohol (neutral grape spirits), and let the whole macerate, with frequent shaking, for about 14 days. Then filter off the fluid. The tincture prepared in this manner only contains the cumarin [original spelling] found as a white coating upon the beans, and is used only in the finest products. Now take the beans from the flask, and add 6 ½ cups of alcohol. This extract gives an excellent tincture suitable for products of medium quality. [Deite]

Jeanne Rose’s experience Tonka Bean and EO: Years ago when I was fascinated with the names of herbs and essences I had never heard of, I found out about Tonka. This was about 1968. I got some Tonka beans that were thickly covered with a white crystalline substance. Of course, now I know that is the coumarin crystals. I never used Tonka bean extract, tincture or butter then only the whole beans and I used them in ritual and in potpourri. Some of these 50-year-old potpourris still exist today and they smell divine.

Tonka photo by Jeanne Rose

Jeanne Rose uses this EO for perfumery ~ Adding fixatives to the alcohol to complement the final perfume is a useful technique. Remember first that quality alcohol has no scent and no taste. You can add the base notes in small quantities to 95% neutral grape spirits to slightly scent it. Start with a liter/quart of this spirit, which already has the pleasant slightly fruity odor of grapes. Of particular interest is adding 1 gram of Tonka Bean to 1 liter of spirits for a floral odor base fixative. Macerate for several months, label it and use it in as a diluent in your perfumes. Other base alcohols that can be used are Vanilla bean or Benzoin resin/quart for floral, woody odors.

A recipe by Jeanne Rose for the skin. A fragrant somewhat antiseptic hand lotion can be made by mixing a salt spoon size scoop (1/4th teaspoon) of Tonka bean butter with ½ oz. to 1 oz. of unscented hand lotion or plain oil. Mix together and use — your hands will have a lovely odor of bitter almond or you might describe it as homemade Jergens lotion (original lotion from 1882)

Blending with formula:
Top Notes: Bergamot 40-60 drops
Heart Notes: Jasmine, Ylang-ylang — 20-30 drops total
Base Notes: Amber, Tonka Bean — 10 drops total
Mix together, succuss, age, add your diluent, age and then use.

Moth Repellent: The seed, also called a bean is a perfume and a preventative against Moths: Take one ounce each of Tonquin beans, Caraway Seed, Cloves, Mace, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, all well ground; add six ounces of Florentine Orris root; mix well, and put in bags among your clothes. They will smell good and also repel any moth larvae.

An Old Perfume:
Oh La La! (Azzaro) 1993 – Oriental Style
Use all the odors that you can find of the odors mentioned. Start with equal amounts of each odor and smell test to see if it agrees with you. Then mix the three notes using about 30% each in the final blend. Now you have 10% left to add more of one odor or another or to add a bridge or fixative. Let it rest two weeks, smell test again and then add the carrier or dilute with alcohol to 25%. Succuss every day. Try your perfume in 2 weeks.

Top Notes: Fruit notes. Raspberry, Peach, Mandarin, Bergamot, Fig Leaves, Muscat Grape
Heart Notes: Yellow Rose, Jasmine, Narcissus, Ylang-Ylang, Orange Blossom, Osmanthus
Base Notes: Cinnamon, Sandalwood, Amber, Vanilla, Patchouli, Tonka Bean
Bridge Notes: Tobacco, Birch

Tonka Bean Limerick
Tonka SE is a mighty funny bean
It is solid and needs to be seen.
Use it for a hay smell
It works in perfumes well
And makes nice perfume for a dean.—JeanneRose2014

Petitgrain Essential Oil and/or Hydrosol Profile

May17

By Jeanne Rose ~ 3-17-16

Petitgrain is a particular EO and not a species; leaves and twigs from any citrus when distilled are called Petitgrain (small fruit) and depending on terroir the scent is different. Includes formulas and recipes.

Common Name/Latin Binomial: Petitgrain is the name of a particular essential oil and is not a particular plant species, it is the results of distilling the leaves and twigs of citrus and can be made from any citrus. Normally, it is from Citrus x aurantium (L.).

Other Common Name/Naming Information: Originally, Petitgrain which means “small seed” was actually distilled from the immature and small round green fruits of the Citrus trees. Of course, if you distill the fruits then there will be no mature fruit to eat or preserve. So eventually, the distillation was limited to the leaves and small branchlets but the oil is still called Petitgrain.

Blossoms of the true bitter (sour) orange tree, Citrus x aurantium Linnaeus, subsp. amara L., on being distilled yield Neroli bigarade oil. If, on the other hand, the leaves and petioles (leaf stalk) are distilled, oil and hydrosol of Petitgrain bigarade is obtained.

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Home/Table of Contents

Jeanne-blog.com is about the art and uses of aromatherapy and essential oils.
Each addition discusses one essential oil or absolute or one group – in detail. I discuss the history, background, naming, chemistry, properties, uses of each named oil as well as my personal use, how it fits into my autobiography and maybe even a limerick or two.

Table of Contents ~ Profiles

Amber Oil

Amber Resin & Oil

Anise seed and Star Anise

Balsam of Peru & Balsam of Tolu

Basil & Holy Basil EO, Herb, Hydrosol

BATH, WATER AND BATHING STUFF

Benzoin/Storax/Styrax and more

Bergamot

Calendula Infused Oil

Cedar-Virginia

Chamomile, Roman

Cistus/Labdanum ~ Resin, EO, Hydrosol

Citronella Story

Citronella Grass – a Profile

Clary Sage

Clay and Mud

Clove Oil/Herb

CO2 Extracts • Perfumery & Skin Care

Cypress and Blue Cypress EO

Douglas-Fir

Elemi oleo-resin

Firs – Profile & Hydrosol

Frankincense ~ Fabulous Ancient Remedy

Galbanum Resin

Gourmet Scents

Gourmet Perfumery

Grapefruit ~ EO & Use

Hydrosol Story -Rose Geranium

Juniper Berry – Juniperus communis

Labdanum/Cistus ~ Resin, EO, Hydrosol

Lavender, Lavender, Lavandin

Lemon Oil & Hydrosol

Lemongrass ~ EO & Herb

Licorice Scent in Essential Oils

Mastic ~ Resin, Herb, EO

Pines – Pinyon and Scotch

Resin, Resinoid, Gum

Rose-Geranium

Roses – Grown for Scent

Roses – Used for Scent

Rosemary. Chemotypes and Hydrosol

Sage

Seaweed Baths

Sandalwood – ALL
Sandalwood-Australian
Sandalwood-Hawaiian & New Caledonia
East Indian Sandalwood

Awarded top 30 herbal blog – Feb. 2017

Jeanne Rose ~Herbal Studies Course and the Aromatherapy Studies Course by home-study and Distance-Learning and the author of 25 books. She coined the word ‘hydrosol’ for the aromatic waters of distillation. She was the first to teach the Art of Distillation to aroma practitioners.

She brings 45 years of experience and personal research in her practice of Aromatherapy. Jeanne Rose has held the Executive positions of (NAHA), The American Herbalist Association (AHA), and The Aromatic Plant Project (APP) —which encourages the production and use of American grown essential oils and hydrosols. Jeanne Rose teaches all aspect of aromatherapy and herbalism as well as Aromatherapy Certification Courses; and the Art of Distillation.

She practices a personal ecology and eats organically grown and locally sourced foods.

(Clary Sage flowers – Jeanne Rose garden 2014)

Clary Sage Synopsis

Clary Sage Absolute supplied by Eden Botanicals

Clary Sage Exam of 13 sorts – see how many I studied

Essential oil glands of Clary Sage

photo by Jeanne Rose ~ see Hydrosol Booklet

JR

photo by Jeanne Rose ~ essential oil courtesy Eden Botanicals

Sage CO2 – courtesy Prima Fleur

Sage oil courtesy of Eden Botanicals

Sage Hydrosol and Plant

Sage plant from Eatwell Farm photo by Jeanne Rose

JR

Cistus ladanifer – the plant that produces Cistus oil and Labdanum resin

Cistus EO in the Arctander book

And I still have this fragrant Bag of Mental Health creeping around after 47 years.

Abstract/Scientific Data: Anti-Dengue Virus Activity of the Oleoresin Labdanum of Cistus creticus.

Sustainability: These items may not be sustainable in the amounts that are being used.

Endangered or not: Some of these plants are considered to be threatened and/or endangered due to heavy usage, people moving into the areas where they live and by over-tapping.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Irritants: Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.

Fennel pollen

Fennel from an old herbal

Fennel – 40-year history with seed and pollen Fennel EO 2000; Fennel seed 2017; Manheimer Fennel EO 1977; Eden Botanicals EO 2017; Fennel Pollen & cut Fennel tops

~ JR ~

Synopsis ~ Cloves are flower buds used as spice for 2000 years and have properties and uses beyond food — to support the health of your body; includes aromatherapy information and safety tips.

CLOVE EO Profile & Information

This picture shows the two fractions of the oil during distillation with a layer of water in between. It is not a hydrosol as the distillation water has to be cohobated continually back into the still to obtain the maximum amount of hydrosol.

Organoleptic Characteristics: Color: Light yellow to pale brown when older Clarity: Clear Viscosity: Some viscosity Taste: Bitter, aromatic Intensity of Odor: 7 (Scale is 1-10 with some Lavenders about 2)

2.The old (1902) and the new (2017)

~ JR ~

The seeds from Strictly Medicinal seeds in Oregon (formerly Horizon Herbs).

Photo credited to Andrea Lay

Basil Oils and Tulsi Hydrosol – courtesy of Eden Botanicals

27-year collection of Basil oil with leaves

SOME CAUTIONS TO REMEMBER for all Essential Oils

DO NOT INGEST ESSENTIAL OILS: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or in honey to take internally.

Synopsis: An ambitious discussion of the essential oil of the grass Vetivert from the rootlets, its uses, growth, description, organoleptic qualities and uses of the essential oil.

A Vetivert basket and Vetivert essential oils from three countries. Courtesy Eden Botanicals.

Vetivert roots http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/growing-vetiver-for-essential

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Basket made of Vetiver roots

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or in honey to take internally.

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Vetiver being harvested in China

~ JR ~

Patchouli Essential Oil and Hydrosol Profile

By Jeanne Rose ~ February 2017

Patchouli Oils from Eden Botanicals

Patchouli flowers, south-facing, 410 feet elevation, photo by Willie Shook, Kilauea, Hawaii, 1-12-17

~ JR ~

fig. 1. JR photo of Juniperus occidentalis from Oregon

fig. 2. Juniper Oil of leaf and berry – courtesy Eden Botanicals

fig. 3. Juniper berries

fig. 4. Jeanne Rose photo of J. communis in Golden Gate Park

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

fig. 5. Botanical illustration of Juniper communis

~ JR ~

Pine Needle Profile

Scotch Pine and Piñon Pine – Hydrosol

Pinon Pine gum

samples courtesy of Eden Botanicals

Pinon Pine tree

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

~JR~

Tonka Beans

Regulating Safety of Traditional and Ethnic Foods edited by V. Prakash, Olga Martin-Belloso, Larry Keener, Siân B. Astley, Susanne Braun, Helena McMahon, Huub Lelieveld

Tonka photo by Jeanne Rose

Table of Contents ~ Profiles

Sage CO₂– courtesy Prima Fleur

Fennel – 40-year history with seed and pollen
Fennel EO 2000; Fennel seed 2017; Manheimer Fennel EO 1977; Eden Botanicals EO 2017;
Fennel Pollen & cut Fennel tops

Organoleptic Characteristics:
Color: Light yellow to pale brown when older
Clarity: Clear
Viscosity: Some viscosity
Taste: Bitter, aromatic
Intensity of Odor: 7 (Scale is 1-10 with some Lavenders about 2)

**fig. 1. JR photo of Juniperus occidentalis from Oregon**

**fig. 4. Jeanne Rose photo of J. communis in Golden Gate Park**