Is Bulrush natural or synthetic?

A fantasy or concept note, not a single material.

Bulrush

AccordGREENS, HERBS & FOUGERESearthy · green · fresh

HeartPyramid

3/5Strength

—Tenacity

3Origins

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Specimen

Typha latifolia / Schoenoplectus lacustris

Fantasy/Concept

Definition

Green, aquatic, faintly starchy. Bulrush smells like a pond margin — cattail stems standing in shallow water, mud, pollen dust on still air.

GREEN EARTHY AQUATIC FRESH

SCHOENOPLECTUS SCIRPUS

Type: Accord
Olfactive family: Green
Subfamily: Green notes
Cluster: Green leafy notes
Source: N/A — no botanical extraction
Chemical class: Synthetic accord / reconstructed concept

Instruments

Pyramid

TTop

HHeart

BBase

3/5Strength

Medium

odour strength

Producing countries

Asia Europe North America

Scent

Green, aquatic, starchy-soft. Standing water, reed stems, pollen dust. Less sharp than cut grass, more humid, with a muddy foundation. The smell of a marsh on a warm, still day — not clean water but living water.

In PREMIEREPEAU

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

The Full Story

'Bulrush' is a confused common name that has been applied to at least three unrelated genera. The two most often invoked in perfumery are Typha latifolia (broadleaf cattail, Typhaceae — the tall brown 'corn-dog' spike that everyone recognises) and Schoenoplectus lacustris (common club-rush, Cyperaceae — the slender green stems used in basketry). In British botanical tradition, Schoenoplectus is the 'true' bulrush; in modern North American usage Typha is more commonly called bulrush.

Explore all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

Neither has a commercial perfumery extract. Bulrush as a fragrance note is a fantasy aquatic-green accord — water-side mineral-mud-pollen impressions built from calone, Helional, cis-3-hexenol, and a trace of starchy-vegetal notes (matsutake mushroom alcohol or ethyl methylphenylglycidate). The reference is the pond margin, not any specific extract.

Did You Know?

A single Typha seed head can contain over 250,000 seeds, each attached to a tiny parachute of fine hairs. When released, the seeds can travel over 1 km on wind. Typha pollen was used as flash powder in early photography and theatrical pyrotechnics — it ignites explosively when dispersed in air.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method

No commercial extraction exists. Typha species are not cultivated for aromatic purposes. Entirely conceptual.

Formula: N/A — olfactory concept
CAS: N/A — olfactory concept
Botanical: Typha latifolia / Schoenoplectus lacustris
Appearance: N/A — reconstructed accord
Odour strength: Medium
Synonyms: SCHOENOPLECTUS SCIRPUS

IFRA status

See note

Not applicable: accord or concept, not a single material

Physical properties

Note: Bulrush is an evocative aquatic-green note. Not a distilled material; reconstructed from green, aquatic, and earthy ingredients.

In Perfumery

Fantasy concept note providing wetland-aquatic atmosphere. No extraction exists. Built from green-aquatic synthetics, starchy notes, and earthy-mud elements (geosmin, vetiver). Functions in aquatic, wetland, and environmental compositions. Provides specific marsh character rather than generic water freshness.

Role in the formula

01naturalizer

02freshness

Available as

synthetic accord fantasy note