Peyote

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Peyote is the note built around Lophophora williamsii, a small spineless cactus of the Chihuahuan desert. The plant itself is close to odourless. What perfumery sells under the name is a fantasy accord for desert ritual: dry alkaline dust, sun-baked soil and a faint bitter-green trace of cactus flesh.

Scent Profile

Earthy leads. The single source describing this note reaches earth by three separate routes in three separate sentences: 'earthy, bitter, and alkaloid-sharp', 'the impression is of desert floor', and 'closer to a petrichor or dry-earth note than to any floral or green category'. That is the one claim the evidence makes without hedging. Mineral is the second half of the same picture and is stated as directly: 'alkaline dust, sun-baked mineral soil', and then again comparatively, 'less green than other cactus notes. More mineral and austere'. The two facets are held close together because the source never ranks them. Nothing else reaches. Green sits, not zero and not higher: the source says the cactus flesh is 'slightly bitter-green' but spends a whole sentence saying the note is less green than the published cactus material. Dry_woody carries the word austere. Aquatic_ozonic is the petrichor comparison, which is a wet-dust smell and not a dry one. Aromatic_herbal is 'sparse vegetation'. Sour is the only home available for 'bitter' and 'alkaloid-sharp', and it is a poor one, so the number is small and the spread on it is 0.22.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeBase · ~10h lasting

Family Woody & Earthy, Elemental

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

Origin

Fantasy accord. Lophophora williamsii is not steam-distilled or extracted for perfumery, and Premiere Peau states plainly that 'peyote in perfumery is more concept than extraction' and that the plant is 'not conventionally fragrant'. The material behind any peyote listing is a reconstruction, usually mineral and dry-earth in construction. The plant is sacramental in Native American Church practice and is legally controlled in most countries, which is a further reason no extraction trade exists.

Usage in Perfumery

Rare. One Fragrantica placement and none in the second vocabulary. Used as a concept note in desert, ritual and psychedelic-themed compositions, where it sits under or beside dry-earth, mineral and incense materials rather than in a green accord.