African Orange Flower, bitter orange blossom, French Orange Flower, Moroccan orange blossom, Orange Blossom Absolute, Orange Flower, Orange Tree Blossom, Tunisian Orange Blossom
About
Orange blossom is the white flower of the bitter orange tree. As a perfume note it means the absolute. It smells sweet and white-floral, with a fresh citrus-green lift, a honeyed warmth and a faint animalic edge.
Scent Profile
Orange blossom smells sweet, luminous and white-floral. It opens with a fresh citrus-green lift and clean, almost soapy petals. A honeyed, waxy warmth follows, with a touch of ripe fruit. A faint animalic note from indole sits underneath. It is darker and waxier than neroli, and less indolic than jasmine. The drydown is warm and musky, like honey on clean skin.
CORRECTED 2026-10-08. The flower gives neroli oil (distilled) and the absolute (solvent). Neroli is its own note, and this note's aliases are the absolute, concrete and water absolute, so the note means the absolute: CITRUS AURANTIUM L. ORANGE BLOSSOMS ABSOLUTE 8030-28-2 in the IOFI list, IFRA NCS F2.1. ScenTree: 'if we use the flower, we can obtain Orange Blossom Absolute (extraction with volatile solvent) and Neroli EO (hydrodistillation)'. Do not link by CAS 68916-04-1, which is shared by bitter orange peel oils. A second absolute, 8016-38-4, is listed under the neroli CAS and is not merged. Previously the note was read as having no extract: 'spans neroli and orange flower absolute'. A real held extract exists.
Orange blossom comes from the flowers of the bitter orange tree (Citrus aurantium). The main producers are Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, with some in France. The flowers are solvent-extracted to a concrete, which is washed with alcohol to give the absolute. IFF says about 700 kg of flowers make 1 kg. Steam distillation of the same flowers gives neroli, which is a separate note.
Usage in Perfumery
Orange blossom is a heart note. Parfumo listed 14,061 perfumes with it on 2026-10-10, most often in the heart. It is used in colognes, floral bouquets, chypres, ambers and orientals. It blends with citrus oils, petitgrain, neroli, jasmine and musk, and adds both freshness and warmth.
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