Lemon Leaf

Note Profile

Botanical 20 perfumes

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About

Lemon Leaf is petitgrain citronnier, the steam-distilled leaves and twigs of the lemon tree. It smells of sharp, bright lemon, a clear green leaf and a bitter-woody tail, with a verbena-like lift. It is cleaner and more lemon-forward than the bitter orange petitgrain most people know.

Also Known As

Lemon Leaves

Scent Profile

Bright, tart lemon over a clear green leaf, the two roughly equal. A verbena-like herbal note sits on top. A dry, bitter woodiness runs underneath, and marks it as a leaf oil rather than a peel oil. It dries down sweeter and softer, with a faint floral, neroli-like trace. Cleaner and more lemon-forward than bitter orange petitgrain. It carries a quiet dry-wood edge, like pale bark or timber, under the green.

ScentWheel

Breadthfocused

EnvelopeHeart · ~4h lasting

Family Fresh & Citrus, Green & Aromatic

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

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ScentArt

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can make Lemon Leaf from this natural extract.

Natural extract Petitgrain lemon oil

Smell words come from published sources.

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

Origin

Steam distillation of the leaves and young branches of Citrus limon, mainly in Italy. The oil is pale, from colourless to greenish yellow. It is less common than petitgrain bigarade from the bitter orange tree.

Usage in Perfumery

A heart material with top-note impact. Perfumers use it to extend citrus accords, most of all lemon, lime and cedrat, and to carry lemon into the middle of a composition. Fragonard used it to build a lemon blossom accord. Fraterworks says it was part of the petitgrain base of the original Green Irish Tweed. One supplier measures 16 hours on a smelling strip.