N/A — reconstructed accord in perfumery (no standard extract)
Odor Strength
Medium
Producing Countries
Not applicable — no commercial extract is produced. The plant (Ipomoea alba) grows wild and cultivated across tropical Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Caribbean, and naturalized in tropical Asia.
Pyramid
Heart
Night-blooming trumpet vine of the Convolvulaceae. The flowers open after dusk and emit benzyl alcohol, phenylacetaldehyde, and methyl benzoate — a generic white-floral VOC cocktail aimed at hawkmoths, not perfumers. No essential oil, no absolute, no commercial extract exists. In perfumery, "moonflower" is a fantasy accord reconstructed from jasmine, tuberose, and gardenia materials.
The living flower emits a diffuse, soft white-floral scent — less narcotic than tuberose, less indolic than jasmine, more transparent and airy than either. The benzyl alcohol gives it a faintly balsamic sweetness; phenylacetaldehyde contributes a rosy, slightly green-honey quality; methyl benzoate adds a clean, faintly wintergreen fruitiness. The overall impressi on is generic nocturnal white-floral: pleasant, unremarkable, and without the intensity or complexity that would justify extracti on. Compared to Cestrum nocturnum (night-blooming jasmine), Ipomoe a alb a is thinner and less aggressive. Compared to Brugmansi a (angel’s trumpet), it is cleaner and lacks the datur a-like heaviness.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Soft, diffuse white-floral sweetness — benzyl alcohol and phenylacetaldehyde give a rosy-balsamic-green opening. Transparent, airy, without weight.
After a few hours
After a few hours
The living flower’s scent fades by mid-morning as the bloom wilts. No commercial extract exists to evaluate on blotter. A reconstructed accord would show the methyl benzoate fading first, leaving a soft floral-balsamic residue.
After a few days
After a few days
No persistence data available — the material does not exist in extractive form. In a fantasy reconstruction, the base would depend entirely on the fixatives chosen (musks, sandalwood, etc.), not on any moonflower-derived material.
The Full Story
Ipomoea alba (syn. Calonyction aculeatum, Ipomoea bona-nox) is a perennial liana of the Convolvulaceae — the morning glory family — native to tropical and subtropical regions from Argentina to northern Mexico and the Caribbean. The plant climbs 5–30 metres on twining stems. Its white, trumpet-shaped flowers measure 8–14 cm in diameter, open after dusk, remain open until mid-morning, and wilt by noon.
Scent Chemistry
The floral scent is produced by volatile organic compounds emitted to attract nocturnal sphingid moths (hawkmoths), principally Manduca sexta. Headspace analyses of Ipomoea alba flowers have identified benzyl alcohol (sweet, faintly balsamic), phenylacetaldehyde (rosy-green, honey-like), and methyl benzoate (fruity-sweet, wintergreen-adjacent) as principal volatiles. These are benzenoid and phenylpropanoid-derived C6–C1 and C6–C2 compounds common across many night-blooming white flowers — the same chemical vocabulary found in jasmine, tuberose, and gardenia. The emission is circadian: it peaks during the first hours of darkness and drops sharply after midnight.
Status in Perfumery
No commercial essential oil, absolute, or CO2 extract of Ipomoea alba exists. The plant produces insufficient volatile mass for economic extraction. The only registered cosmetic derivative — Ipomoea bona-nox flower extract (CAS 223749-13-1) — is classified by COSMILE Europe as a skin-conditioning agent, not a fragrance material. When perfumers or marketing departments list ‘moonflower’ in a composition, they are referencing a fantasy accord: a reconstructed white-floral note typically built from jasmine absolute, tuberose absolute, indole, benzyl acetate, and hedione or similar jasmonates. The name is suggestive, not descriptive.
Toxicity Note
Ipomoea alba contains swainsonine and calystegines — indolizidine and nortropane alkaloids that inhibit lysosomal glycosidases. These compounds, concentrated in seeds and leaves, cause the ‘locoism’ syndrome in livestock. This toxicity profile further explains the absence of any commercial extract for fragrance use.
This note in Première Peau. Gravitas Capitale · Insuline Safrine · Nuit Elastique. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Ipomoea alba flowers are pollinated almost exclusively by sphingid moths (hawkmoths). The white, trumpet-shaped corolla and nocturnal scent emission are textbook examples of the 'sphingophily' pollination syndrome. Hawkmoths can detect the floral volatiles from several hundred metres away and hover in front of the flower while uncoiling a proboscis long enough to reach the nectar at the base of the 10-cm corolla tube. The flower-moth relationship is so specialised that in regions where hawkmoth populations decline, Ipomoea alba fruit set drops to near zero.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: No commercial extraction exists. The living flowers of Ipomoea alba produce volatile organic compounds (benzyl alcohol, phenylacetaldehyde, methyl benzoate) in quantities sufficient to attract hawkmoth pollinators but insufficient for economic distillation or solvent extraction. No essential oil, absolute, or CO2 extract is listed in any major fragrance-material catalogue. The only registered derivative — Ipomoea bona-nox flower extract (CAS 223749-13-1, INCI: Ipomoea Bona-Nox Flower Extract) — is a cosmetic ingredient classified as a skin-conditioning agent, not a fragrance raw material. The plant's toxic alkaloid content (swainsonine, calystegines) further precludes any extract intended for dermal application at meaningful concentration.
Molecular Formula
N/A — no standard isolate
CAS Number
N/A — no commercial essential oil
Botanical Name
Ipomoea alba
IFRA Status
Not applicable — no commercial extract exists. Individual components of a moonflower reconstruction (jasmine absolute, indole, hedione, etc.) have their own IFRA restrictions.
Synonyms
MOONFLOWER · EVENING GLORY
Physical Properties
Odor Strength
Medium
Lasting Power
N/A (no extractive material)
Appearance
N/A — reconstructed accord in perfumery (no standard extract)
In Perfumery
Ipomoea alba has no direct perfumery role — no extract, no isolate, no commercial derivative enters fragrance formulation. The term 'moonflower' in perfumery is a marketing descriptor for fantasy white-floral accords, not a reference to an actual raw material. A plausible moonflower reconstruction would combine jasmine absolute or synthetic jasmonates (hedione, methyl jasmonate) for the indolic-narcotic core, tuberose absolute or synthetic tuberose materials for creamy-lactonic weight, benzyl alcohol for soft balsamic sweetness, phenylacetaldehyde for the rosy-green top, and methyl benzoate for a clean fruity lift. Indole at trace levels (0.05–0.1%) would darken the accord toward a more naturalistic night-flower character. No Premiere Peau fragrance references moonflower as a note.
