Cistus Leaf

Note Profile

Botanical

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About

Cistus leaf is the essential oil distilled from the leaves and twigs of the rock rose, not from its gum. That distinction is the whole point of the note. The gum gives labdanum, which is deep, sweet and ambery. The leaves and twigs give something drier, sharper and more herbaceous, with a lemony lift and a woody body.

Scent Profile

Cistus leaf smells dry and herbaceous, sharper and less sweet than the gum that gives labdanum. A woody body runs through it, with a lemony citrus lift on top. A soft amber warmth is present but faint, well below the deep, sweet resin of the gum. Green, leafy twig notes and a cool, terpenic edge round it out.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeHeart · ~7h lasting

Family Green & Aromatic, Woody & Earthy

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

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can build Cistus Leaf from materials such as:

Alpha-pinene aromatic · terpenic · cooling

Smell words come from published sources.

Allergens perfumes with this note can list: Pinene

A given perfume with this note may use some of these, or something else, and may or may not contain the allergens above.

Origin

Cistus ladaniferus, Cistaceae, a Mediterranean shrub. Eden Botanicals sets out the two extraction routes in one sentence: aromas 'can be extracted through steam distillation or solvent extraction by using the leaves and stems, or by using only their resinous gum, known as Labdanum'. ScenTree describes the leaf and twig route in detail. 'The branches and twigs of the shrub are also used to obtain the essential oil. They are dried and immersed in a bath of boiling water to exude the oils and collect them on the surface.' So this is not a marketing synonym for cistus or labdanum. It is a separate cut of the same plant, and the published notes for the resin side already exist.

Usage in Perfumery

A dry herbaceous woody material for chypres and orientals. Attested on 7 Parfumo entries across 6 brands and absent from Fragrantica. ScenTree notes the essential oil is more expensive than the absolute.