Materia Aromatica

North America

Boreal firs, spruces and pines, two cedars that are not Cedrus, buds and bog shrubs.

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Materia Aromatica · Origin

North American oils are commonly taken as a handful of interchangeable conifers. The boreal conifers differ more than their common names suggest. Fir, spruce, pine and hemlock each carry their own balance of pinenes, carene and bornyl acetate. Around them stand the buds, leaves and woods of the same forest, and two cedars that are not cedars.

01 · The Region

The boreal forest

Most of the range is Canadian and boreal. The boreal forest is a belt of conifers with long, cold winters and short summers, stretching across the north of the continent. Balsam fir, black and white spruce, white pine, red pine and eastern hemlock are its characteristic trees. The needles and twigs of all of them are distilled, and the difference between the oils lies in the proportion of a few shared constituents.

The understorey and wetlands add other materials. Labrador tea, Rhododendron groenlandicum, is a low shrub of bogs and wet conifer woods. Poplar balsam is distilled from the resinous winter buds of Populus balsamifera. Thuja occidentalis, the eastern white cedar, gives a leaf oil. From the United States come Virginia cedarwood, the heartwood of Juniperus virginiana, fleabane, Conyza canadensis, a native herb, and a cultivated lemon thyme.

Boreal

Needle oils

Balsam fir, black and white spruce, white and red pine, hemlock.

Wetland and bud

Shrub and resin

Labrador tea from the bogs, poplar balsam from resinous buds.

Two cedars

Neither is Cedrus

Virginia cedar, a juniper. Cedar leaf, a thuja.

Field

Herbs

Fleabane and lemon thyme from the United States.

02 · The Range

Nine oils of one forest

No. 2750 · CanadaFir, Balsam (organic)Abies balsamea · wild-crafted organicBeta- and alpha-pinene, delta-3-carene and bornyl acetate. No. 1465 · CanadaSpruce, Black (organic)Picea mariana · wild-crafted organicBornyl acetate with camphene and alpha-pinene. Soft, balsamic needle. No. 2769 · CanadaFir, Hemlock Essential Oil – Wild Canadian Aromatherapy OilTsuga canadensis · wildBornyl acetate, alpha-pinene and camphene, with tricyclene. No. 1772 · CanadaPine, White (Organic)Pinus strobus · wild-crafted organicBeta- and alpha-pinene with myrcene and delta-3-carene. Dry and clean. No. 2805 · CanadaCedar Leaf / Thuja (organic)Thuya occidentalis · wild-crafted organicAlpha- and beta-thujone with fenchone and sabinene. A ketonic leaf oil. No. 3105 · USACedar, VirginiaJuniperus virginiana · wildCedrol with alpha- and beta-cedrene and thujopsene. Pencil-wood base. No. 1935 · CanadaLabrador Tea (Ledum) organicLedum groenlandicum · wild-crafted organicBeta-selinene, limonene and sabinene, with the pinenes. No. 2392 · CanadaPoplar Balsam (Organic)Populus balsamifera · wild-crafted organicAlpha-bisabolol, the eudesmols and trans-nerolidol. Honeyed bud resin. No. 1343 · USAErigeron (Fleabane)Conyza canadensis · wildLimonene and the pinenes, with terpinen-4-ol and caryophyllene.

03 · Side by Side

Spruce, fir and the false cedars

Two spruces first. Spruce, Black (No. 1465) is led by bornyl acetate, with camphene and alpha-pinene. Spruce, White (No. 1468) is led by the pinenes, with camphor. Same genus, same country, and the ester-led black spruce reads noticeably softer and sweeter than the white.

Then fir against pine. Fir, Balsam (No. 2750) is led by beta-pinene, with delta-3-carene and bornyl acetate. Fir, Hemlock (No. 2769), from Tsuga canadensis, is bornyl acetate first. Pine, White (No. 1772) and Norway Pine (No. 1775) are pinene oils with little ester. The more bornyl acetate, the rounder and more balsamic the oil; the more pinene, the drier and sharper.

Then the two cedars. Cedar, Virginia (No. 3105) is a juniper heartwood, built on cedrol and the cedrenes. Cedar Leaf / Thuja (No. 2805) is a leaf oil of a different genus, built on thujone. Neither shares a constituent profile with Atlas or Himalayan cedar, the true Cedrus.

04 · In Practice

Forest in the room

The needle oils are diffusion and bath materials first, and suit massage blends where a resinous, open note is wanted. The ester-led black spruce and hemlock are the softest for skin preparations. In natural perfumery they serve as green, resinous top and middle notes.

Virginia cedar is a base note and fixative, dry and woody, and pairs with vetiver, patchouli and the citrus oils. Poplar balsam is a perfumer's material with a honeyed, resinous character. Cedar leaf is high in thujone and is reserved for experienced practitioners and olfactory study, at conservative dilution and for adults. Labrador tea is used sparingly. Lemon thyme is a non-phenolic thyme, led by geraniol and citral, and is diluted as a citral oil.

Essential oils are for aromatic and topical use. Dilute before applying to skin. Keep out of reach of children.