Rosebay Willowherb
Note Profile
About
Rosebay Willowherb is Epilobium angustifolium, also called fireweed, the tall magenta-flowered plant that colonises burnt and cleared ground. Fragrantica files it under Flowers, but every olfactive description that could be found is of the leaf, either dried raw or rolled and fermented into the Russian tisane known as Ivan chai. Nothing in it can be attributed to the flower.
Scent Profile
Rosebay Willowherb, as a fragrance note, is the leaf rather than the flower. It smells refreshingly clean and herbal, with a citrus-and-mint edge. A grassy green sits just under that, sweeter and greener once the leaf is rolled and fermented into tea. Fermentation brings out a faint fruity, floral turn, alongside a light earthy sweetness.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
ScentArt
Origin
No perfumery supplier lists a willowherb or fireweed essential oil or absolute. Eden Botanicals, Hermitage Oils and Pell Wall all return nothing. The plant is sold two other ways: as dried leaf for tea, and as Epilobium angustifolium extract for skincare, where it is marketed as an anti-irritant and antioxidant rather than as a fragrance ingredient. No GC-MS or academic headspace study of the flower was found. A perfume listing this note is therefore working from an idea of the plant, not from an extract of it.
Usage in Perfumery
Used as a green herbal accent in botanical and landscape compositions, where the name carries as much as the smell. It sits with grass, hay, tea notes and soft florals. Because there is no material to buy, any use is a built accord and its shape depends on which part of the plant the perfumer had in mind.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Rosebay Willowherb
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Rosebay Willowherb appears prominently.
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