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Lantana leaf

Q: Is Lantana leaf natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: Steam distillation of Lantana camara leaves. Yield approximately 0.1-0.4%. Produced primarily in India. The plant grows invasively throughout the tropics, providing abundant raw material..

GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES / green · fresh · floral

Lantana leaf

Category	GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES
Subcategory	green · fresh · floral
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Lantana camara
Appearance	Pale yellow to amber liquid
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	India, Kenya, South America
Pyramid	Heart

Pungent, herbaceous-green, slightly cat-urine-like. Lantana leaves, when crushed, release a sharp, divisive green scent — more weed than herb, more fence-row than garden.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Pungent, herbaceous-green, slightly catty-urinous. The crushed-leaf character is sharp, divisive — some find it fresh and herbal, others find it unpleasant. Like crushing lantana leaves in a tropical garden — sharp green, pungent, slightly animal, aggressively vegetal.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Pungent green burst, catty, sharp herbaceous

After a few hours

Softer, less catty, warm green-herbal

After a few days

Faint green-herbal residue

The Full Story

Lantana (Lantana camara) is one of the world's most invasive plant species — a tropical American shrub that has naturalized across Africa, Asia, and Australia. The leaves have a particular pungent, green, slightly urinous scent when crushed, caused by sesquiterpenes (beta-caryophyllene, alpha-humulene) and monoterpene aldehydes.

The essential oil is commercially distilled, primarily in India, and contains caryophyllene (25-30%), germacene-D, and various oxygenated sesquiterpenes. The scent is herbaceous-green with a catty, slightly sulfurous edge that divides opinion.

Lantana camara is classified as one of the 100 worst invasive species globally. It forms dense, impenetrable thickets in tropical and subtropical regions, displacing native vegetation.

In perfumery, lantana leaf provides a pungent, wild-green note — useful in compositions seeking raw, unmanicured greenness.

This note in Première Peau. Simili Mirage · Gravitas Capitale. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

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Related: Alpha Pinene · Angelica · Angelica Root · Angelica Root Oil · Artemisia · Barrenwort · Beachheather · Behini Tree

Did You Know?

Did you know?

Lantana camara has been responsible for documented livestock poisoning across the tropics — the leaves contain pentacyclic triterpenoids (lantadenes) that cause hepatotoxicity, particularly in cattle, sometimes leading to photosensitization where animals develop severe sunburns.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Steam distillation of Lantana camara leaves. Yield approximately 0.1-0.4%. Produced primarily in India. The plant grows invasively throughout the tropics, providing abundant raw material.

Molecular Formula	Complex mixture (no single formula)
CAS Number	90046-17-6
Botanical Name	Lantana camara
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Synonyms	lantana, shrub verbena
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	Pale yellow to amber liquid
Specific Gravity	0.90000 to 0.93000 @ 25.00 °C.

In Perfumery

Lantana leaf (Lantana camara) provides a pungent, green-herbaceous modifier. Beta-caryophyllene and sesquiterpene dominant. Essential oil commercially available from India. Functions as a raw, wild green note in naturalistic, tropical, and unmanicured compositions. The catty-urinous edge must be managed through dosage.