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Daylily

Q: Is Daylily natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: Not extracted. Daylilies produce no viable aromatic material. Fantasy accord..

FLOWERS / floral · sweet · fresh

Daylily

Category	FLOWERS
Subcategory	floral · sweet · fresh
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Hemerocallis spp.
Appearance	Pale yellow to amber liquid
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	Asia, Europe, North America
Pyramid	Heart

Faint, green-sweet, and ephemeral. Most daylilies (Hemerocallis) have barely any scent -- a few fragrant species offer a subtle, honeyed-floral sweetness that lasts only a day.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Faint, lemon-honeyed, and fleeting. Like catching the scent of a daylily at dusk -- it is there for a moment, sweet and honeyed with a lemon-green edge, and then it is gone. A flower that smells of its own brevity.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Faint, lemon-honeyed, sweet. Ephemeral.

After a few hours

Nearly gone. A ghost of honey and green.

After a few days

Absent. True to the flower's one-day nature.

The Full Story

Daylily (Hemerocallis species) is a perennial plant whose individual flowers each bloom for a single day. The name comes from the Greek hemera (day) and kallos (beauty). Most modern cultivars have been bred for color and form, not fragrance -- the majority are scentless.

The few fragrant species (H. citrina, H. lilioasphodelus) produce a subtle, sweet, lemon-honeyed scent, most noticeable in the evening. The fragrance is light and ephemeral, matching the one-day lifespan of each bloom.

In perfumery, daylily is a fantasy accord capturing this transient, barely-there quality. Built from light, honeyed-lemon materials, transparent florals, and clean musks.

The note functions in the heart, providing an ephemeral, here-and-gone floral quality.

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

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Related: Arum Lily · Biomuguet · Calla Lily · Crinum Lily · Fire Lily · Florhydral · Hydroxycitronellal · Lily

Did You Know?

Did you know?

In Chinese cuisine, dried daylily buds (jinzhen, golden needles) are a common ingredient in hot and sour soup and moo shu pork. The buds must be dried before eating because fresh daylily flowers contain colchicine, which can cause nausea -- drying eliminates the toxin.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Not extracted. Daylilies produce no viable aromatic material. Fantasy accord.

Molecular Formula	Complex natural mixture
CAS Number	N/A — natural extract, no single CAS
Botanical Name	Hemerocallis spp.
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Synonyms	hemerocallis, yellow daylily, orange daylily
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	Pale yellow to amber liquid

In Perfumery

Heart note in ephemeral, garden, and one-day-bloom compositions. Functions as a transient, honeyed-lemon floral. Built from light honey-lemon materials, transparent florals, and clean musks.