Cypress Wood

Note Profile

Botanical 1 perfume

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About

Cypress wood is the steam-distilled wood oil of Cupressus sempervirens, CAS 86696-07-1. It is a different material from the branch-and-needle oil the published cypress note describes. It is dry, clean and woody, opening with a mild camphoraceous, pine-like lift. One supplier sells both organs and states the difference outright: the leaf oil is greener and sharper, the wood-derived oil is smoother and more persistent.

Scent Profile

Cypress Wood smells dry, clean and woody, like cut heartwood rather than a green hedge. A mild, camphoraceous lift opens it, with a pine-like green edge that stays lighter than the leaf oil's. Underneath sit light herbaceous tones and a resinous warmth, with a trace of lemon. It carries a cool, camphor-like bite, close to menthol, in the opening.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeBase · ~12h lasting

Family 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 Cypress Wood from materials such as:

Cedrol woody · cedarwood · dry
Carvacrol methyl ether spicy · leafy · herbal

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use some of these, or something else.

Origin

Cupressus sempervirens, the Mediterranean cypress. Steam distillation of the wood itself, not of the leaves, twigs and small branches that yield the commoner cypress oil. The scent is strongest in freshly cut wood and stays noticeable in aged timber, which is also why the wood resists decay and insects.

Usage in Perfumery

A woody backbone rather than a featured note. Perfumers use it as a modifier in pine-needle compositions, citrus colognes, fougeres and chypres, where it gives dry structure without the sharp green edge of the leaf oil. Parfumo's placement data across 54 perfumes puts it in the base.