Liatrix

Note Profile

Botanical 2 perfumes

Drag to turn On Note Island

About

Coumarin-rich hay and tobacco absolute from deertongue leaf

Also Known As

Liatris Spicata

Scent Profile

Liatrix smells of cured hay and dried tobacco leaf, from the coumarin in the plant. A sweet, tonka-like vanillic warmth sits right under that, over a balsamic, resinous amber depth. A sweet herbal note runs through it all, close to woodruff and dried green stems. Around that sit a soft powdery dustiness, a nutty almond tone, a honeyed note of raisins and syrup, a faint floral note like broom, and a boozy, fortified-wine edge. An earthy, faintly bitter floor sits under it.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeBase · ~30h lasting

Family Amber · Musk · Leather, Sweet & Gourmand, Green & Aromatic

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

WorldSee it in Note Island

ScentArt

What is ScentArt?

Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can build Liatrix from materials such as:

Coumarin hay · tonka · cinnamon

Smell words come from published sources.

Allergens perfumes with this note can list: Coumarin

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

Origin

Perfume brands list this note as Liatris spicata. The material is liatrix, also called deertongue. It is an absolute from the leaves of Carphephorus odoratissimus, formerly named Liatris odoratissima. This is a daisy-family plant of the south-eastern United States, from the Carolinas to Florida and Louisiana. ScenTree says it is the only species of its genus used in perfumery. Liatris spicata, the garden blazing star, is a different plant. The Good Scents Company lists its extract as not used for fragrance. The leaves are cut and dried before extraction, and curing is what makes the smell. Coumarin is the main aroma compound. King's American Dispensatory (1898) records crystals of coumarin on the leaves. It also says the leaf was used in North Carolina to keep moths out of clothes and to flavour cigarette tobacco. The dried leaf is extracted with hexane to a concrete, which is washed with alcohol to give the absolute. The absolute is a dark green paste. Robertet sells it as a dark grade and as a colourless grade. Supply is scarce. Fraterworks calls it 'virtually impossible to obtain' and sells a replacer.

Usage in Perfumery

Liatrix is a fixative first and a note second. Perfumers use it in the base to give a tobacco or hay accord body and to hold lighter materials down. It does the same job as tonka or coumarin, with a drier, more bitter edge. ScenTree lists its uses as 'fougere, amber, blond tobacco notes'. It sits well with tonka, tobacco, lavender, oakmoss, rose, geranium, vanilla and benzoin. The Good Scents Company recommends up to 2% in the fragrance concentrate.