Tulsi

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Tulsi is the steam-distilled oil of holy basil, Ocimum tenuiflorum. Eugenol makes it clove-like, and that clove sits on a green herbaceous basil chassis.

Scent Profile

Warm_spice is the clove, and all three trade sources name it independently. Eden Botanicals says 'clove-like', Hermitage Oils says 'its high eugenol content becomes apparent in its balsamic, clove-like drydown', and Perfumers World says 'herbal spicy phenolic quality with notes of clove and basil'. Aromatic_herbal is the basil itself, which Hermitage builds from 'allspice, bay, mint and licorice'. Green rests on 'somewhat bitter green/herbaceous' and 'calm and green'. Amber_resinous is the 'soft balsamic-woody undertone' Eden names and the 'balsamic' drydown Hermitage names. Cooling_mentholic is the mint in that same opening list. Sweet_vanillic carries the 'remarkably persistent sweetness' that Eden singles out and Hermitage echoes as 'spicy and sweet'. Under the naming line: dry_woody for the woody half of 'balsamic-woody', mossy_chypre for Perfumers World's 'Yeast mossy' base descriptor, clean_musk for a base Hermitage calls 'vaguely musky', and fresh_spice for the allspice-and-liquorice edge of the opening.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~6h lasting

Family Spicy, Green & Aromatic

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

Origin

Steam-distilled from the leaf and flowering top of holy basil, grown across India where the plant is also a temple plant. The common trade oil is the eugenol-rich chemotype. Camphor-rich and methyl-eugenol chemotypes are reported but were not confirmed in any source fetched for this note.

Usage in Perfumery

Used where a fougere or green aromatic needs spice weight that culinary basil cannot give. It behaves as a bridge: green enough to sit with herbs, clove-warm enough to reach a spice or amber base.