Palisander Rosewood

NaturalWOODS & MOSSESwoody · floral

HeartPyramid

—Strength

—Tenacity

1Origins

Specimen

Palisander Rosewood perfume ingredient — Heart

Aniba rosaeodora

Definition

Rosewood oil, or bois de rose, is an essential oil extracted from the wood of Aniba rosaeodora and used especially in perfumery. Its fragrance is woody and floral.

WOODY FLORAL

Rosewood oil, bois de rose

Type: Ingredient
Olfactive family: Woods
Subfamily: Classic woods
Cluster: Creamy woods
Source: wood, leaves and branches
Chemical class: Essential oil rich in linalool, a monoterpenic alcohol

Instruments

Pyramid

TTop

HHeart

BBase

Producing countries

Brazil

Scent

The characteristic floral odour of the oil is described in perfumery as bois de rose. Linalool, the main constituent of the oil, has a dextro enantiomer described as sweet, floral, petitgrain, and lavender. Linalool has an odour similar to floral, spicy wood, somewhat resembling French lavender, bergamot oil or lily of the valley.

In PREMIEREPEAU

DISCOVERY SET7 × 2 ml →EXTRAIT DE PARFUMThe seven extraits →

The Full Story

The name and its confusion

Because many unrelated woods are called rosewood, some confusion has arisen about the origin of rosewood oil. Members of the genus Dalbergia, such as Brazilian rosewood (D. nigra) and Indian rosewood (D. latifolia), have never been a source of rosewood oil. Rosewood oil is extracted from the wood of Aniba rosaeodora, which is not related to the rosewoods used for lumber.

Dalbergia nigra is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae, also known in German as Rio-Palisander. Its wood is very hard and heavy. The wood has a strong, sweet smell, which persists for many years, explaining the name rosewood. Dalbergia nigra is listed in CITES Appendix I, and trade in it is restricted.

The tree

Aniba rosaeodora is a Magnoliid tree of the family Lauraceae from the tropical rainforest of South America. It reaches up to 30 meters in height and 2 meters in diameter, and is evergreen. The entire tree is fragrant. In Brazil the tree is known as pau-rosa. The species is native to Brazil, occurring in the states Amazonas, Pará, and Amapá.

Chemistry

Linalool is the main constituent of rosewood oil. The linalool derived from rosewood oil is predominantly the dextro (S) enantiomer, typically above 90%, though the proportion can vary with the source material and extraction technique. A leaf and thin-branch oil of Aniba rosaeodora contained linalool at 93.60%, α-terpinolene at 3.37% and linalool cis-oxide at 3.03%. An oil extracted in Belém, in the state of Pará, had linalool (84.8%) as the major compound, followed by α-terpineol (2.9%). Linalool has the formula C₁₀H₁₈O and a molar mass of 154.25. Its IUPAC name is 3,7-dimethylocta-1,6-dien-3-ol.

Conservation

Aniba rosaeodora is an endangered species. Its populations have declined rapidly because of destructive harvesting methods. Its wood and essential oil are on Appendix II of CITES. Early experiments in artificial cultivation and propagation failed, while more recent attempts have been more successful. Today the species is grown by mills and small producers in the Amazon. Communities and producers are also replanting the species.

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Related: Almond Tree · Ambrox Super · Amburana Wood · Amyris · Blonde Woods · Caoutchouc · Cashalox · Cashmir Wood

Did You Know?

The wood of Aniba rosaeodora was greatly overused in the past and is now as difficult to legally trade as elephant ivory. Because of the remoteness and difficulty of travel in the Amazon, distilleries are often mobile, movable by raft.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method

In the wild harvest, the trees are felled and cut into logs one meter long, which are stockpiled at the riverbank. When river levels are high enough, the logs are floated downriver to a distillery. At the distillery, the wood is chipped and then steam distilled. Each tree yields about 1% oil by weight of wood. Old chips are used as fuel to run the distilleries. The oil, which in the past was extracted from the trunk requiring the felling of the tree, is now extracted from the leaves and branches. Hydrodistillation of dried leaves and thin branches gave an oil yield of 2.8%.

Botanical: Aniba rosaeodora
Appearance: Colorless to pale yellow liquid
Synonyms: Rosewood oil, bois de rose

IFRA status

See note

No IFRA Standard for the material itself (51st Amendment)

Physical properties

Refractive index: 1.459 (leaf and thin-branch oil)

In Perfumery

The perfume and cosmetics industries demand rosewood oil highly for its unique aroma. The oil is rich in linalool, a compound with fixative power. Oil adulteration is the industry's highest concern. Adulteration may occur by mixing the real oil with other essential oils, natural or synthetic, or by substituting the original plant by other plants during extraction.

Role in the formula

01fixative

02modifier

03backbone

04signature note

05blender

Available as

essential oil