Materia Aromatica

Woods

Sandalwood, cedar, vetiver and patchouli. The base notes of the library.

See the oils ↓

Materia Aromatica · Scent

Wood oils are often assumed to come from heartwood alone. Several defining materials of the family do not. Vetiver is distilled from roots, patchouli from dried leaves and cypriol from rhizomes. What unites them is a chemistry of heavy sesquiterpenes and their alcohols, which evaporate slowly and hold a composition together.

01 · The Family

Fifteen carbons

Most wood oils are built on sesquiterpenes, molecules of fifteen carbon atoms, and on the alcohols derived from them. Their size explains the behaviour of the family: low volatility, long tenacity on a strip and a place at the base of a composition. Santalols lead the sandalwoods. Cedrol and the cedrenes lead Virginia cedar and Vietnamese cypress; himachalenes and atlantones lead Himalayan cedar. Khusimol leads vetiver and patchoulol leads patchouli. Guaiol and the eudesmols give the Callitris woods and amyris their soft, balsamic tone.

One branch departs from the pattern. Rosewood and howood are led by linalool, a monoterpene alcohol, and read floral-woody and comparatively light. Massoia bark is led by a lactone and smells of coconut and milk. The roots in the family, angelica and valerian among them, add musky and earthy facets that the trunk woods lack.

Santalols

Sandalwood

cis-alpha- and cis-beta-santalol. Soft, milky and very tenacious.

Cedrol and himachalenes

The cedars

Pencil-shaving dryness in Virginia; a sweeter, balsamic tone in Himalaya.

Root and leaf

Vetiver and patchouli

Khusimol and patchoulol. Earthy and dense, and slow to evaporate.

Linalool woods

Rosewood and howood

A monoterpene alcohol over a woody base. The lightest of the family.

02 · The Range

Ten oils, heartwood to root

No. 2680 · AustraliaSandalwood, WhiteSantalum album · conventionalcis-alpha- and cis-beta-santalol, with alpha-santalene. No. 2684 · AustraliaSandalwood, Australian (organic)Santalum spicatum · wild-crafted organicalpha- and beta-santalol with nuciferol; drier and lighter than album. No. 3105 · USACedar, VirginiaJuniperus virginiana · wildCedrol, with alpha- and beta-cedrene and thujopsene. No. 3096 · IndiaCedar, HimalayaCedrus deodara · wildHimachalenes and atlantones. Sweet and balsamic. No. 2975 · MadagascarVetiver, Extra (organic)Vetiveria zizanoides · certified organicKhusimol, isovalencenol and beta-vetivenene. No. 2401 · IndonesiaPatchouli, Indonesia (Organic)Pogostemon cablin · certified organicPatchoulol, with alpha-bulnesene and alpha-guaiene. No. 1566 · JapanHinokiChamaecyparis obtusa · wilddelta-Cadinene and alpha-muurolene, with alpha-pinene at the top. No. 1020 · Dominican RepublicAmyrisAmyris balsamifera · wildValerianol, elemol and the eudesmols. No. 3185 · AustraliaCypress, BlueCallitris intratropica · wildGuaiol and bulnesol, with the eudesmols. No. 2580 · PeruRosewoodAniba rosaeodora · conventionalLinalool, with alpha-terpineol and geraniol.

03 · Side by Side

Three comparisons

Three sandalwoods first. Sandalwood, White (No. 2680) is Santalum album, grown in Australian plantations. Sandalwood, Pacific (No. 2682) is Santalum austrocaledonicum from New Caledonia. Both are led by cis-alpha- and cis-beta-santalol and read soft and milky. Sandalwood, Australian (No. 2684) is Santalum spicatum, with less santalol and more of the drier sesquiterpene alcohols; it reads sharper and more resinous.

Then two cedars that are not alike. Cedar, Virginia (No. 3105) is botanically a juniper, and its cedrol gives the dry, pencil-wood note. Cedar, Himalaya (No. 3096) is a true Cedrus, led by himachalenes, and reads sweeter and warmer. Hinoki (No. 1566) and Cedar, Japanese (No. 1285), both of the cypress family, add a third, more resinous register.

Then two linalool woods. Rosewood (No. 2580) and Howood (No. 1570) share a linalool core. Howood, from a linalool chemotype of the camphor tree, carries linalool oxides and a trace of camphor, and reads a little sharper. Rosewood adds alpha-terpineol and geraniol and a softer floral facet.

04 · In Practice

Base and fixative

In natural perfumery the woods are the base and the fixatives of a composition. Sandalwood and vetiver hold rose and jasmine in place and extend citrus. Cedar gives a dry structure to fougère and chypre accords. Patchouli, with bergamot and labdanum, forms the core of the chypre. Vetiver and grapefruit are a classic pairing. Amyris is a soft, inexpensive base where sandalwood would be too costly in quantity.

In massage blends sandalwood, cedar and amyris dissolve readily into a carrier. For diffusion the viscous oils, vetiver, sandalwood and patchouli, move slowly and are better used in a blend with lighter materials. In skincare formulation sandalwood and rosewood are the most frequently used. Vetiver and sandalwood thicken at low temperatures, and a bottle warmed gently in the hand pours more easily. Patchouli and vetiver change with age, rounding and darkening over years in a closed bottle. Rosewood is traded under CITES, which governs its supply.

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