Is Althaea natural or synthetic?

A fantasy or concept note, not a single material.

Althaea

AccordFLOWERSfloral · sweet · powdery

HeartPyramid

3/5Strength

4hTenacity

2Origins

Editorial noteWe own no rights to this material, its name or its trademark. This entry is independent editorial journalism, published under freedom of expression.

Specimen

Althaea officinalis

Fantasy/Concept

Definition

Not a real perfumery extract. When a fragrance lists 'marshmallow,' what you smell is a synthetic accord — ethyl maltol, vanillin, musks — designed to carries the confection, not the marsh plant. The actual Althaea officinalis root smells of damp tea and wet starch. Nobody distils it for perfume.

SWEET POWDERY MUSKY GOURMAND WARM

marshmallow, sweetweed

Type: Accord
Olfactive family: Florals
Subfamily: Gourmand accords
Cluster: Gourmand accords
Source: fantasy accord (no plant extraction)
Chemical class: fantasy accord (ethyl maltol + vanillin + musk base)

Instruments

Pyramid

TTop

HHeart

BBase

3/5Strength

Medium

odour strength

Tenacity on blotter

4hours

1 h6 h24 h3 d7 d400 h

Producing countries

N/A — synthetic accord not a natural extract

Scent

The actual plant smells of almost nothing. Crush a fresh leaf: faint green, vaguely herbaceous, unremarkable. The root, when dried, has a starchy, tea-like odour — closer to wet cardboard than to confectionery. Headspace analysis confirms the obvious: the volatiles are dominated by straight-chain alkanes (tetradecane, hexadecane) that the human nose barely registers.

The ‘marshmallow’ of perfumery smells nothing like the plant. It is soft, airy, candy-sweet — the olfactory equivalent of spun sugar dissolving on the tongue. Warmer than cotton candy (which leans fruity), less dense than vanilla, more powdery than honey. The accord’s signature is its texture: pillowy, weightless, almost transparent sweetness.

In PREMIEREPEAU

DISCOVERY SET7 × 2 ml →EXTRAIT DE PARFUMThe seven extraits →

The Full Story

Althaea officinalis is a temperate marsh plant native to the coastal wetlands of Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. It is not a perfumery raw material. The root contains 5–35% mucilaginous polysaccharides — useful in cosmetics and traditional medicine, irrelevant to fragrance. TGSC classifies the root extract (CAS 73049-65-7) as ‘not for fragrance use.’ The plant’s volatile profile, analysed by HS-SPME/GC-MS (Ilam Province, Iran, 2022), is dominated by tetradecane (22.5%), alpha-pinene (15.5%), hexadecane (10.5%), 2-hexenal (8.5%), and dodecane (7.3%) — an alkane-heavy, scentless-to-waxy composition with zero perfumery utility.

The Fantasy Accord

When a perfume lists ‘marshmallow’ in its notes, the material is a synthetic accord designed to carries the confection, not the plant. The accord is typically built from ethyl maltol (CAS 4940-11-8, the caramelised-sugar molecule), vanillin or ethyl vanillin, a powdery white musk (often ethylene brassylate or helvetolide), and a trace of benzoin or coumarin for balsamic warmth. Some formulators add heliotropin (CAS 120-57-0) for a powdery-almond quality. The result is a soft, pillowy sweetness — airy rather than dense — that reads as edible without the heaviness of pure vanilla.

Naming Confusion

The connection between the plant and the confection is historical, not aromatic. French confiseurs of the early 19th century whipped the root’s mucilaginous sap with sugar and egg white to produce pâte de guimauve. By the mid-20th century, gelatin replaced the plant entirely. Modern marshmallows contain no Althaea. The perfumery note, in turn, contains no marshmallow — it is a double remove from the plant that gave it its name.

CAS Clarification

CAS 73049-65-7 corresponds to Althaea officinalis (marshmallow) extracts. CAS 90045-76-4, sometimes erroneously attributed to this entry, belongs to Althaea rosea (hollyhock) — a different species entirely.

Related Notes

See also: Ethyl Maltol, Vanilla, Tonka Bean, Benzoin.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method

No extraction relevant to perfumery. Althaea officinalis root extract (CAS 73049-65-7) is produced by solvent extraction of the dried root, primarily for cosmetic and flavour applications. TGSC explicitly classifies it as 'not for fragrance use.' The root's value lies in its mucilage content (5-35% polysaccharides), not in volatile aromatics. The plant yields negligible essential oil by steam distillation. Headspace GC-MS analysis of A. officinalis volatiles (Ilam Province, Iran, 2022) identified tetradecane (22.5%), alpha-pinene (15.5%), hexadecane (10.5%), 2-hexenal (8.5%), and dodecane (7.3%) — an unremarkable alkane-dominated profile with no perfumery interest. The 'marshmallow' note in perfumery is a synthetic accord; see perfumery_role.

Formula: Complex mixture (extract); no single molecular formula
CAS: 73049-65-7 (Althaea officinalis extract — cosmetic/flavour use only, not for fragrance)
Botanical: Althaea officinalis
Appearance: Root extract: brown to dark brown liquid. As an accord: not applicable.
Odour strength: Medium
Lasting power: Depends on accord construction; ethyl maltol component fades within 2-4 hours, musk base persists 24+ hours
Synonyms: marshmallow, sweetweed

IFRA status

See note

Not applicable: marshmallow is a fantasy accord, not a regulated raw material. Among its typical components, only coumarin carries its own IFRA Standard; ethyl maltol and vanillin do not. Althaea officinalis root extract (CAS 73049-65-7) is classified by TGSC as 'not for fragrance use.'

Physical properties

Specific gravity: 0.94320 to 1.01320 @ 25.00 °C.
Refractive index: 1.36980 to 1.38580 @ 20.00 °C.

In Perfumery

Marshmallow is a fantasy accord, not a raw material. The note is constructed, typically from ethyl maltol (the caramelised-sugar molecule, CAS 4940-11-8), vanillin or ethyl vanillin, a powdery musk (often ethylene brassylate or helvetolide), and a trace of benzoin or coumarin for warmth. Some formulations add heliotropin for the powdery-almond quality. The accord sits in the heart-to-base register. It functions as a sweetness modifier in gourmand compositions, softening denser notes like chocolate, coffee, or caramel without the cloying density of pure vanillin. In floral-gourmand hybrids, it bridges the gap between edible sweetness and white-floral transparency. The actual plant, Althaea officinalis, contributes nothing to this construction. TGSC lists the root extract as 'not for fragrance use.' Its volatile profile, dominated by tetradecane, alpha-pinene, and hexadecane, bears no relation to the confectionery sweetness the name implies.

Role in the formula

01modifier

02blender

03sweetness agent

Available as

synthetic accord fantasy note