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Dandelion

Q: Is Dandelion natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: Not commercially extracted for perfumery in significant volume. Dandelion absolute exists but is rare. Fantasy accord for most uses..

FLOWERS / floral · earthy · green

Dandelion

Category	FLOWERS
Subcategory	floral · earthy · green
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Taraxacum officinale
Appearance	dark brown viscous liquid (absolute)
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	Asia, Europe, North America
Pyramid	Heart

Green, bitter-milky, and weedy. The smell of dandelion is its broken stem -- white latex, bitter green sap, and the damp earth around the root.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Green, bitter-milky, and earthy. Like pulling a dandelion from wet soil -- the stem snaps, white latex oozes, the bitter-green sap stains your fingers, and the root trails damp earth. The flower above is a small, sweet afterthought. This is a weed that smells like a weed.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Green, bitter, milky. Raw and weedy.

After a few hours

The bitterness softens. Earthy, green, faintly honeyed.

After a few days

A subtle, green-earthy residue.

The Full Story

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a ubiquitous plants on Earth. Its olfactory character is not in the flower (which has a faint, honey-like sweetness) but in the plant as a whole: the broken stem releases a white, milky latex with a distinctly bitter-green smell; the leaves are herbaceous and slightly astringent; the taproot smells of damp earth.

In perfumery, dandeli on is a fantasy accord that captures this humble, weedy, green-bitter character. It carries unkempt lawns, vacant lots, and the tenacity of nature in urban spaces.

Perfumers build dandelion from green-leaf materials (cis-3-hexenol), a bitter-milky element (latex-like), earthy notes, and a trace of honey-pollen sweetness for the flower. The result is unpolished and deliberate in its refusal to be pretty.

This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Rose Monotone. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

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Did You Know?

Did you know?

Every part of the dandelion is edible. The root can be roasted as a coffee substitute (dandelion coffee was widely consumed in wartime Europe). The white latex in the stems contains natural rubber -- during WWII, the Soviet Union cultivated a related species (Taraxacum kok-saghyz) as a strategic rubber source.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Not commercially extracted for perfumery in significant volume. Dandelion absolute exists but is rare. Fantasy accord for most uses.

Molecular Formula	N/A — complex natural extract
CAS Number	97676-22-7 (absolute)
Botanical Name	Taraxacum officinale
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Synonyms	Lion's Tooth, Puffball, Wetland Dandelion
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Lasting Power	Moderate — 8-16 hours on blotter
Appearance	dark brown viscous liquid (absolute)

In Perfumery

Heart note in green, wild-meadow, and urban-nature compositions. Functions as a bitter-green, weedy element with milky-latex and earthy dimensions. Built from green-leaf materials, bitter-milky accords, earth notes, and honey traces.