Delicate almond-rose floral with a hint of coumarin. The actual blossom smells nothing like peach fruit -- it is a soft, bitter-almond flower closer to cherry blossom.
Almond-rose, delicate, and faintly powdery. Not peachy at all. Like pressing your face into a branch of just-opened Prunus blossoms -- bitter almond, a soft rose-like sweetness, a whisper of coumarin, and the cold green of the stem. Ephemeral and spring-like.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Bright, bitter-almond freshness with a rose-honeyed edge. Spring-like and ephemeral.
After a few hours
After a few hours
The almond fades. A soft, powdery-floral warmth remains -- coumarin and heliotrope.
After a few days
After a few days
Nearly gone. A faint, powdery trace.
The Full Story
Peach blossom (Prunus persica) belongs to the Rosaceae family, making it a botanical cousin of cherry, plum, and almond blossoms. The flowers appear before the fruit and have a delicate, almond-rose character driven by benzaldehyde (the bitter almond molecule) and traces of coumarin.
This is a crucial distinction: peach blossom smells nothing like peach fruit. There is no gamma-decalactone peachiness, no lactonic creaminess, no fuzzy skin sweetness. The flower is closer to cherry blossom or bitter almond -- ethereal, slightly powdery, and tinged with marzipan.
Peach blossoms are not commercially extracted for perfumery. The note is a fantasy accord, reconstructed using benzaldehyde (almond), heliotropin (powdery sweetness), traces of phenylacetaldehyde (rose-like, honeyed), and light coumarin notes. Some perfumers add a barely perceptible lactonic thread to bridge toward the fruit association.
In a composition, peach blossom sits in the top-to-heart transition. It provides a fleeting, spring-like floral freshness -- the smell of an orchard in early April, before any fruit appears.
This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Rose Monotone. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
In classical Chinese painting, the peach blossom (taohua) symbolizes spring, romance, and the fleeting nature of beauty. The Tao Hua Yuan Ji (Peach Blossom Spring), a 5th-century Chinese fable by Tao Yuanming, describes a hidden utopia found through a grove of peach trees -- a enduring images in East Asian literature.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Not commercially extracted. Peach blossoms yield no viable essential oil or absolute. The note is a fantasy accord built from benzaldehyde, heliotropin, and coumarin-adjacent materials.
Molecular Formula
Key aroma compound: gamma-decalactone C₁₀H₁₈O₂
CAS Number
84012-34-0
Botanical Name
Prunus persica
IFRA Status
No known restrictions
Synonyms
PEACH FLOWER · PRUNUS BLOSSOM
Physical Properties
Odor Strength
Medium
Appearance
Pale yellow liquid with a sweet fruity scent
In Perfumery
Top-to-heart note in spring-floral, almond-blossom, and orchard-inspired compositions. Functions as a delicate, bitter-almond floral -- very different from peach-fruit lactonic notes. Built from benzaldehyde, heliotropin, phenylacetaldehyde, and light coumarin. Bridges spring-green openings into warmer hearts.