Bunch-Flowered Narcissus

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Bunch-flowered narcissus is Narcissus tazetta, the paperwhite. It is a different species from the N. poeticus that the published `narcissus` note is built on, and one supplier of a tazetta extrait says so directly. The note is white-floral and indolic like its genus, but the animalic side reads wet rather than faecal, and the opening is herbaceous and phenolic rather than hay-like.

Scent Profile

White_floral leads. Two sources give it independently: a trade supplier calls the tazetta extrait 'white floral, slightly indolic, yet very elegant and sweet', and a perfumer's blog calls paperwhite 'a rich jasmine scent'. Green is the opening, described as 'herbaceous and mildly phenolic' with 'a green tea zest and pollen aspects'. It sits under `narcissus` at 0.62 because the supplier times that opening at about fifteen minutes rather than treating it as the whole note. Animalic is the facet that separates this species from the published note. Both sources name it and both describe it as wet: a 'subtle horse stable note typical of daffodil tazetta', and a 'watery poo fragrance' that is 'swampy, pond-like'. It runs above `narcissus` at 0.38 because those readings are stronger than the genus baseline. Floral is the plain floral body under the white-floral top. Powdery comes from the two overlaps the blog names, heliotrope's 'powdery marzipan' and violet's 'powdery sweet-ink perfume'. Lactonic is the 'nosefeel of butter. Stiff, like overwhipped cream.' Aquatic_ozonic is the same wetness the animalic facet carries, scored separately because the source insists the humour is 'cool and wet, like mucus' rather than musky. Below the level worth naming: nutty from marzipan, tobacco_hay held with a wide spread, honeyed, sweet_vanillic, earthy and a trace of sulphurous for the sewage reading.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeHeart · ~5h lasting

Family Floral, Green & Aromatic, Amber · Musk · Leather

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

The flower of Narcissus tazetta, a small-cupped, many-flowered daffodil. It is naturalised across the Mediterranean and grown commercially for essential oil in southern France, sometimes as a hybrid with N. poeticus. Common names include paperwhite, polyanthus narcissus and Chinese sacred lily. Hermitage Oils sells a tazetta extrait made by cold enfleurage. No large house publishes a datasheet for a tazetta-specific absolute, so the material behind this note is a small-batch one.

Usage in Perfumery

Used as an indolic white-floral heart where narcissus is wanted with a wet, swampy edge instead of the hay and tobacco of the poeticus material. Measured on 2026-08-23: 8 Parfumo placements across 4 brands, and no Fragrantica entry under this name. The supplier of the tazetta extrait recommends it as a top note that integrates with narcissus absolute to build a fuller narcissus accord, so it is a partner to the published note rather than a replacement.