Magnolia Leaf

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Magnolia leaf is the green, waxy smell of the leaf rather than the flower. Both sources that describe it agree it is green and fresh, and both say it is not the creamy-sweet thing the flower is. They disagree about what sits under the green. One reads camphor, faint spice and a leathery edge off the thick cuticle. The other reads apple and exotic fruit with a freesia lift. The vector holds green high and both undersides at moderate values with wide spreads, because the two accounts may not be describing the same plant.

Scent Profile

Green leads and is the only thing both sources agree on: crushed glossy leaf, waxy rather than sappy. Cooling_mentholic follows, the eucalyptus-like freshness Premiere Peau attributes to cineole. Fruity is nearly as strong but comes from the other source only, where IFF names apple and exotic fruit on top. White_floral is the freesia aspect on that same sheet. Aromatic_herbal runs under the green, which is why both accounts call the leaf more herbaceous than the flower. Leather is the thick cuticle, a dry skin-like edge rather than tanned hide. Fresh_spice sits at the base of the green as a faint peppery bite. Small amounts of floral, dry_woody, tropical, citrus and lactonic waxiness fill in behind these.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeHeart · ~5h lasting

Family Green & Aromatic, Fruity, Fresh & Citrus

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

What this is made of

Magnolia leaf oil, rectified

A natural extract

CAS 92457-18-6

Michelia/Magnolia leaf oil (IFRA NCS E2.24, leaf). The note is explicit that it is the leaf and not the flower. Only the rectified grade is held.

How the layers join

Origin

Two trade sources give two different botanical names for a material sold as magnolia leaf. IFF's LMR Naturals compendium lists MAGNOLIA LEAF OIL as Michelia alba (DC.) Figlar, which is white champaca. Premiere Peau's glossary gives Magnolia grandiflora, the southern magnolia, and attributes the odour to linalool, beta-caryophyllene and 1,8-cineole without citing an analysis. Fragrantica's own entry sides with the first reading: it says the leaves of white champaca smell sweet, green and gentle when crushed. The leaf is steam distilled or extracted; the flower of the same plants is traded separately and smells different.

Usage in Perfumery

A heart-note green modifier. It gives a leaf-green lift that is drier and darker than a floral green, so perfumers reach for it when they want magnolia character without the creamy sweetness of the blossom. It sits in green, woody-aromatic and fruity-floral compositions and bridges leaf notes to spicy-woody materials. 22 Fragrantica placements and 8 Parfumo placements across 6 brands.