Curcuma Leaf

Note Profile

Botanical

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About

Steam-distilled oil of the turmeric leaf. Spicy, and past that the two suppliers who sell it disagree. One hears citrus and freshness, the other earth and warmth.

Scent Profile

Curcuma leaf smells spicy above all else, though accounts differ on the rest. Some read it warm and earthy, others fresh and citrusy with a sparkling peppery lift on top. It has an aromatic, herbal freshness running through it either way. A faint resinous warmth, reminiscent of elemi, sits behind the citrus in the brighter reading.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeHeart · ~4h lasting

Family Spicy, Fresh & Citrus

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

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can make Curcuma Leaf from this natural extract.

Natural extract Turmeric leaf oil

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use this material, or something else.

Origin

Steam-distilled from the leaves of Curcuma longa, the turmeric plant, in India. The rhizome is the part that has always been distilled. The leaves were agrowaste, and IFF/LMR built the material out of that waste and says so plainly: 'The turmeric leaves thrown away by the farmers or used as compost contained interesting scented molecules. Extracting them produces a one-of-a-kind, highly sustainable product.' A study in PubMed Central confirms the leaf oil is chemically its own thing, naming alpha-phellandrene, 2-carene and eucalyptol as predominant, which is not the rhizome's composition.

Usage in Perfumery

A spice note with a fresh lift, sold as a traceable natural with a sustainability story attached. IFF/LMR positions it as a source of turmeric's spice with a brighter top than the rhizome oil gives. Parfumo records 8 placements across 8 brands.