Maple Leaf

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Maple leaf is the foliage, and it has nothing to do with maple syrup. GC-MS on Acer saccharum leaves finds ordinary green leaf volatiles - leaf aldehyde and leaf acetate - with no sugar-derived furanones at all. The one trade description agrees and calls it green, slightly sweet, woody and leafy. Score it as a green note with an earthy-woody undertone, never as a gourmand.

Scent Profile

Green is the leading word of the trade description and the direct finding of the GC-MS work, where leaf aldehyde and leaf acetate are the two largest peaks. Dry_woody is the 'faint trace of woodiness' the trade source names, scored low because the source itself calls it faint. Earthy is that source's own word, 'organic and earthy', which is why it is scored at all rather than folded into the green. Below, sweet_vanillic is the 'subtle sweetness', kept small on purpose because this note sits one word away from being mistaken for maple syrup, and floral is the alpha- and beta-ionone trace, a violet-adjacent nuance the paper reports as minor. No smoky, boozy or caramelised facet appears here. Those belong to the sap.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeTop · ~2h lasting

Family Green & Aromatic

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

Origin

Acer saccharum, Sapindaceae, the sugar maple, and the leaf rather than the sap. Seguin et al., Chemistry & Biodiversity (2025), ran HS-SPME-GC-MS on Quebec leaves and report '(E)-hex-2-enal and (Z)-hex-3-enyl acetate as the major compounds', adding that 'these two compounds are also referred to as leaf aldehyde and leaf acetate'. Eight of their ten monitored compounds are green leaf volatiles; the other two are alpha- and beta-ionone at trace level. The same paper says 'despite all the research on the maple tree and its products, almost nothing is known about the volatile metabolites it produces'. No maple leaf extract is sold for perfumery. The trade description cited below is of a compounded fragrance oil, not an isolated extract.

Usage in Perfumery

A green autumnal modifier in the top. CandleScience's note glossary gives the working description: 'green, slightly sweet, woody, leafy... Organic and earthy, the scent of maple leaf also offers a subtle sweetness and a faint trace of woodiness.' Attested on 5 Parfumo entries across 4 brands and absent from Fragrantica. Do not use it to build a maple accord - the published `maple` note is the sap material and is a different smell.