GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES / green · fresh · floral
Flouve
Category
GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES
Subcategory
green · fresh · floral
Origin
Volatility
Heart Note
Botanical
Anthoxanthum odoratum
Appearance
green amber viscous liquid
Odor Strength
Medium
Producing Countries
France
Pyramid
Heart
Sweet, hay-coumarin, green-grassy. Flouve is sweet vernal grass — the specific grass that makes fresh-mown hay smell sweet. Pure coumarin in botanical form.
Sweet, hay-coumarin, green-grassy. The definitive 'new-mown hay' scent — warm, sweet, slightly narcotic. Greener and more complex than pure synthetic coumarin because the natural grass provides herbal context. The smell of late spring in European countryside.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Sweet coumarin-hay, green-grassy freshness
After a few hours
After a few hours
Warm hay sweetness, less green, narcotic edge
After a few days
After a few days
Persistent coumarin-sweet warmth, dried-hay trail
Terroir & Transformation
Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.
The Full Story
Flouve (Anthoxanthum odoratum), sweet vernal grass, is the botanical source of the 'new-mown hay' scent. The plant contains coumarin, which is released when the grass is cut and begins to wilt — the sweetness that defines hayfield fragrance.
The essential oil (rarely produced) is dominated by coumarin, with supporting herbal and green-grassy compounds. In perfumery, flouve provides the same character as synthetic coumarin but with additional green complexity and a hay-specific quality.
Sweet vernal grass is one of the earliest grasses to flower in European meadows (March-June). Its coumarin content makes it unpalatable to livestock — animals avoid it, which is why it persists in grazed pastures while other grasses are eaten.
This note in Première Peau. Simili Mirage · Gravitas Capitale. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Synthetic coumarin (first synthesized by William Perkin in 1868) was the first synthetic fragrance ingredient used in perfumery — in Houbigant's Fougere Royale (1882). Before synthesis, flouve (sweet vernal grass) and tonka bean were the only sources. The entire fougere family descends from this one molecule.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Rarely produced as essential oil. The plant is more frequent as a tincture or absolute. Coumarin content approximately 1-2% of dry plant weight. Main use is conceptual reference rather than commercial production.
Natural material providing genuine 'new-mown hay' character. Coumarin-dominant with green-grassy complexity. Functions in fougere, green, and pastoral compositions. Provides the same base character as synthetic coumarin but with additional botanical dimensionality. Historically important before coumarin synthesis (1868).
