Mayflower

Note Profile

Botanical

Drag to turn On Note Island

About

Mayflower is the blossom of trailing arbutus, Epigaea repens, a low creeping evergreen of North American woodland. The note is a soft, sweet floral with a green edge and a powdery, faintly woody floor. It is quiet rather than loud. Perfumery uses it to suggest early spring woodland, not a bouquet.

Scent Profile

Mayflower is a soft, sweet floral note from a shy woodland blossom, quiet rather than loud. It carries a green edge with a powdery, faintly woody floor underneath. There is a single hint of a pleasant, spicy character in one description, though the flower is mostly known simply for being fragrant. It suggests early spring woodland rather than a full bouquet.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~5h lasting

Family Floral

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

WorldSee it in Note Island

ScentArt

What is ScentArt?

Origin

Epigaea repens grows in acid woodland soil across eastern North America and flowers in early spring. Minnesota Wildflowers lists its other common names as Mayflower and Ground Laurel. Wikipedia records flowers that are 'pale pink to nearly white and very fragrant, about 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) across when expanded, and borne in clusters at the ends of the branches'. The plant is not distilled at commercial scale. A Mayflower note in a finished perfume is therefore an accord built to match the flower, not an extract of it. One retailer sells a 'Mayflower Essential Oil' assembled from bellflower, lilac, jasmine, lily of the valley and rose hip over musk and amber, and labels it 'Inspired by: Wild Bluebell'. That product tells you how loosely the trade uses the name. It is not evidence about the plant.

Usage in Perfumery

Attested in 12 Fragrantica perfumes and none on Parfumo, so this is a small note. It sits in the heart. The one trade source that describes it pairs it with woody, citrus and musky materials. Use it where a light spring floral is wanted without the weight of rose or jasmine.