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Angelica

Q: Is Angelica natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: Steam distillation of dried roots (Angelica archangelica). Root oil yield: 0.04–1.28% depending on root part — fine lateral roots yield significantly more than large taproots. Distillation requires 12–24 hours to exhaust the material. The roots must be dried before distillation; fresh roots yield as little as 0.08%. The oil is pale yellow to orange-brown with a powerful earthy-musky-peppery odor. A CO2 extract (CAS 84775-41-7) is also produced and captures heavier lactone fractions more completely. Seed oil is distilled separately from dried seeds, yielding 0.5–1.5%, colorless to pale yellow. An absolute (solvent-extracted) from roots exists but is uncommon. Primary origins: France (Niort, Marais Poitevin), Germany, Hungary, Belgium..

GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES / green · earthy · fresh

Angelica

Category	GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES
Subcategory	green · earthy · fresh
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Angelica archangelica
Appearance	Root oil: pale yellow to orange-brown clear liquid. Seed oil: colorless to pale yellow clear liquid.
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	France, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, China
Pyramid	Heart

Damp cellar, crushed celery stalk, pepper bitten through to the stem. Angelica root smells like the underside of a garden — soil, musk, and a strange animal warmth that no other herb delivers. The seed oil is another creature entirely: bright, terpenic, close to parsley on a cold morning.

Scent
Terroir & Origins
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Root oil: peppery, earthy, and unmistakably musky on first breath — a terpenic green bite over a deeper warmth that reads as animal rather than vegetal. Not fecal like civet, not salty like ambergris, but a warm, intimate muskiness from the pentadecanolide content. Drier and more herbaceous than costus, less phenolic than valerian. The celery-like undertone comes from phthalides (ligustilide, butylphthalide), shared with lovage and celery seed but present here in smaller proportion. Seed oil is a different material: bright, strongly terpenic, peppery-fresh, dominated by beta-phellandrene, with a soapy-powdery finish and no animalic depth. TGSC describes its odor as 'strong fresh terpenic peppery earthy spicy anisic ambrette woody musk soapy powdery.'

Evolution over time

Immediately

Sharp peppery-terpenic attack from alpha-pinene and delta-3-carene, green celery-like bite from phthalides, earthy dampness underneath

After a few hours

Terpenic sharpness fades, earthy-musky character takes over — animalic warmth emerges from macrocyclic lactones, the green note softens to dried herb

After a few days

Warm, clean musk residue — pentadecanolide persists as a skin-like, faintly powdery base note with residual earthiness

Terroir & Transformation

Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.

The Full Story

Angelica archangelica produces two distinct essential oils, each worth knowing separately. The root oil — pale yellow to orange-brown, steam-distilled from dried roots — is the perfumer's material. Its odor is earthy, peppery, musky, with a genuinely animalic undertone that is notable for a plant extract. The seed oil is lighter: terpenic, fresh, peppery, dominated by beta-phellandrene (33–63%), with none of the root's subterranean depth.

The root oil's musk character comes from pentadecanolide (cyclopentadecanolide), a macrocyclic musk lactone present at 0.8–2.4% in fresh oil but concentrating to 7–15% as monoterpenes evaporate during storage. Tridecanolide (5%) and other macrolides accompany it. The top-note bite is alpha-pinene (21%), delta-3-carene (16.5%), limonene (16%), and alpha-phellandrene (5–9%). Furanocoumarins — bergapten, xanthotoxin, imperatorin — survive steam distillation in trace amounts, enough to make the oil phototoxic.

The plant is native to northern Europe and Scandinavia. French production centers around Niort (Deux-Sevres), in the marshlands of the Marais Poitevin, where angelica has been cultivated since the early 1600s — Niort's plague epidemic of 1602 made the plant locally famous. Germany, Hungary, and Belgium are also significant producers. Root oil yield from dried roots varies from 0.04% (large taproots) to 1.28% (fine lateral roots), with 12–24 hours of distillation needed to exhaust the material. A CO2 extract (CAS 84775-41-7) exists and captures the heavier fractions more completely.

Explore all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

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Related: Alpha Pinene · Angelica Root · Angelica Root Oil · Artemisia · Barrenwort · Beachheather · Behini Tree · Beta Pinene

Did You Know?

Did you know?

During Niort's plague epidemic of 1602, residents chewed angelica leaves and wore necklaces of its seeds to ward off contagion. The plant did not cure plague, but its furanocoumarins (bergapten, xanthotoxin) are genuinely photoactive: handling the fresh plant and exposing skin to sunlight can cause phytophotodermatitis — blistering burns triggered by UV activation of these coumarins. IFRA Standard 086 restricts the root oil to 0.8% maximum in leave-on products for exactly this reason.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Steam distillation of dried roots (Angelica archangelica). Root oil yield: 0.04–1.28% depending on root part — fine lateral roots yield significantly more than large taproots. Distillation requires 12–24 hours to exhaust the material. The roots must be dried before distillation; fresh roots yield as little as 0.08%. The oil is pale yellow to orange-brown with a powerful earthy-musky-peppery odor. A CO2 extract (CAS 84775-41-7) is also produced and captures heavier lactone fractions more completely. Seed oil is distilled separately from dried seeds, yielding 0.5–1.5%, colorless to pale yellow. An absolute (solvent-extracted) from roots exists but is uncommon. Primary origins: France (Niort, Marais Poitevin), Germany, Hungary, Belgium.

↑ See Terroir & Origins for origin-specific methods.

Molecular Formula	N/A — complex essential oil. Root oil major components: alpha-pinene (21%), delta-3-carene (16.5%), limonene (16%), alpha-phellandrene (5-9%), pentadecanolide (0.8-2.4% fresh, up to 15% in aged oil). Seed oil: beta-phellandrene (33-63%), alpha-pinene (4-13%).
CAS Number	8015-64-3
Botanical Name	Angelica archangelica
IFRA Status	Restricted — IFRA Standard 086 limits root oil to 0.8% in leave-on products due to phototoxicity from furanocoumarins (bergapten). Max 4.0% in fragrance concentrate. Seed oil restricted to 3.0% in fragrance concentrate.
Synonyms	archangel, garden angelica, wild celery
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	Root oil: pale yellow to orange-brown clear liquid. Seed oil: colorless to pale yellow clear liquid.

In Perfumery

Angelica root oil functions primarily as a fixative and naturalizer. Its macrocyclic musks (pentadecanolide, tridecanolide) give it a persistence unusual for a plant material — 31 hours substantivity at 100% concentration (TGSC). In chypre and fougere bases, it anchors lighter materials without adding sweetness; in amber compositions, it bridges herbal top notes to resinous hearts. The seed oil works differently — lighter, more terpenic, useful for lifting green-herbal accords and bridging citrus to woody hearts, with 244 hours substantivity (TGSC) due to its heavier tail fractions. Root oil works with patchouli, vetiver, oakmoss, opoponax, and costus. In aromatic fougeres, it provides the earthy-musky base that synthetic musks approximate but cannot replicate with the same naturalness. No current Premiere Peau fragrance features angelica as a declared note, though its green-musky character could complement the leather-Mediterranean profile of Simili Mirage or the herbal qualities of Gravitas Capitale.