GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES / fresh · green · citrus
Citron Leaf
Category
GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES
Subcategory
fresh · green · citrus
Origin
Volatility
Top Note
Botanical
Citrus medica
Appearance
Pale yellow to amber liquid
Odor Strength
Medium
Producing Countries
India, Israel, Italy
Pyramid
Top
Bitter citrus green, leathery, with the pungent zest of the citron tree's foliage. Citron leaf smells like crushing a thick, dark-green Citrus medica leaf -- oilier and more bitter than lemon leaf.
Bitter-green, oily, with a pungent citrus-leaf character. Rougher and more vegetal than lemon leaf, more bitter than orange leaf, with thicker, oilier foliage character. The green is not grassy but leathery -- thick, subtropical leaves crushed between fingers. A citral brightness sits underneath the bitterness.
Green softens, citral brightness, bitter undertone persists
After a few days
After a few days
Faint green-citrus trace, dry and quiet
Terroir & Transformation
Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.
The Full Story
Citron leaf refers to the foliage of Citrus medica, the original citrus fruit from which lemons, limes, and other citrus species are descended. The leaves are larger and thicker than lemon leaves, with a more pungent, bitter-green aroma. When crushed, they release a burst of limonene, citral, and green-leaf aldehydes -- similar to petitgrain but rougher and more bitter.
No commercial citron leaf oil is widely traded. The scent is reconstructed using petitgrain (as a base), with added bitter-citrus notes (bergapten-type furocoumarins, naringin-like bitterness), and a boost of green-leaf aldehydes for the crushed-leaf impression. The result is greener, more bitter, and more vegetal than standard lemon or orange leaf.
Functionally, citron leaf works as a bitter-green citrus modifier in the top-to-heart zone. It provides a more archaic, less clean citrus-green impression than standard petitgrain or verbena. The note works in Mediterranean, archaic-citrus, and green-herbal compositions.
This note in Première Peau. Simili Mirage · Gravitas Capitale. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Citrus medica (citron) is one of the three ancestral citrus species -- along with mandarin and pomelo -- from which all other citrus varieties descended through hybridisation. Every lemon, lime, grapefruit, and orange alive today carries citron DNA.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: No standardised citron leaf oil is commercially available. Citrus medica leaf extract can be produced by steam distillation but is not a standard trade item. The note is typically reconstructed from petitgrain and bitter-citrus modifiers.
Citron leaf is a bitter-green citrus modifier in the top-to-heart zone. Rougher and more bitter than petitgrain or lemon leaf, with a leathery-vegetal green character. Reconstructed from petitgrain, bitter-citrus notes, and green-leaf aldehydes. Works in Mediterranean, archaic-citrus, and green-herbal compositions.
