Dense, dark, and faintly resinous. Indian rosewood smells like a polished antique: tight-grained, slightly sweet, with a subtle rose-like warmth that gives Dalbergia its name.
Dense, dark, and subtly sweet with a faint rose-like warmth from dalbergione. Tight-grained and polished in character: the smell suggests worked wood rather than forest. Less floral than Aniba rosewood, darker, more furniture-like. A subtle resinous quality sits underneath the sweetness.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Dense dark-woody, faint rose-like sweetness
After a few hours
After a few hours
Warm dalbergione, polished-furniture quality
After a few days
After a few days
Persistent dark woody base
The Full Story
Blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia, Indian rosewood) is a tropical hardwood native to the Indian subcontinent, prized for fine furniture, musical instruments, and turned objects. The wood is dense, dark purple-brown, and extremely hard.
The scent of freshly cut Dalbergia latifolia has a subtle, sweet, faintly rose-like quality that gives the rosewood genus its common name. The wood contains dalbergione and other quinone compounds that contribute both the dark color and the aromatic character. When worked (sanded, turned, or carved), the wood releases a warm, slightly sweet, woody-resinous scent.
In perfumery, blackwood provides a natural base note of dark, dense woody character. It is heavier and darker than Aniba rosewood (the species more commonly associated with rosewood in perfumery), with less of the linalool-driven floral quality. The note functions in dark-woody, Indian, and furniture-inspired compositions.
This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Albâtre Sépia. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Did You Know?
Did you know?
All Dalbergia species were placed on CITES Appendix II in 2017 due to massive illegal logging driven by demand for Chinese hongmu (red wood) furniture. A single large Dalbergia log can be worth tens of thousands of dollars on the black market, making rosewood poaching a profitable wildlife crimes globally.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Sawdust and wood chips can be steam distilled or solvent extracted, though this is uncommon commercially. Dalbergia species are subject to CITES trade restrictions due to overexploitation. The note is often represented through dark-woody synthetics.
Blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia) is a natural base note in dark-woody, Indian, and furniture-inspired compositions. It provides dense, dark wood character with a subtle rose-like warmth from dalbergione compounds. Less floral than Aniba rosewood, more specifically furniture-hardwood in character. Used sparingly due to CITES restrictions on Dalbergia species.
