Lemon Tree Wood
Note Profile
About
Lemon tree wood is the wood of the lemon tree read as a fragrance note. Nobody distils it. The only published description of it as a perfumery referent is Givaudan's own worked example for Lemonile: 20% Lemonile over 80% Kephalis, which Givaudan labels 'Interpretation of lemon tree wood: a sparkling and fizzy citrus heart enriched by a deep spicy sandalwood'. The note is therefore a constructed accord. Citrus is laid over a woody-amber base so the citrus reads as bark and heartwood rather than as peel.
Scent Profile
Citrus leads, because the only source that defines this note leads with it: Givaudan calls the accord 'a sparkling and fizzy citrus heart'. It is lemon peel oil rather than juice, bright and slightly bitter, with a bigarade edge that the Lemonile perfumer comment names directly. Dry_woody sits almost level and is the other half of the note. It is the Kephalis side, an old dry wood rather than a fresh sawn one, and it is what stops the citrus reading as fruit. The two are close on purpose. Givaudan's sentence makes citrus the subject and the wood the enrichment, but the build is 80% Kephalis by weight, so a large gap either way would overstate one source sentence. Amber_resinous is Kephalis's second published facet carried through, a rounded resinous warmth that reads as the 'deep' in 'deep spicy sandalwood'. Below the line, creamy_woody is the only concession to the word sandalwood, warm_spice is the word 'spicy', and green sits rather than zero. Green is deliberately low: this is the one lemon note in the set with no leaf in it, which is what separates it from Lemon Tree at citrus/ green and from Lemon Leaf at citrus/ green.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
Origin
Citrus limon wood, in principle. In practice there is no raw material. No essential-oil or GC-MS work on lemon heartwood or bark was found, and none is expected, because the timber is a pruning residue and not a distillation feedstock. The one named build is Givaudan's synergy example on the Lemonile page: Lemonile supplies the citrus (its own odour description is 'Citrus Lemon Intense', and Givaudan's perfumer comment calls it 'the powerful and natural smell of lemon and bigarade'), and Kephalis supplies the wood. Kephalis is published here as dry_woody with amber_resinous, which is not a creamy sandalwood. Givaudan's word 'sandalwood' names the effect the pair produces, not the smell of either part.
Usage in Perfumery
Used as a woody anchor under a citrus opening, so the lemon has something to sit on instead of evaporating. Attested 4 times on Parfumo across 4 brands and not at all on Fragrantica, which is the pattern of a term that appears in brand copy rather than one perfumers buy in a bottle.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Lemon Tree Wood
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Lemon Tree Wood appears prominently.
No perfumes featuring this note have been reviewed yet. Check back soon.