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Petunia

Q: Is Petunia natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: Not extracted for perfumery. Petunia flowers produce no viable essential oil. Fantasy accord built from green, spicy, and musky synthetics..

FLOWERS / floral · fruity · fresh

Petunia

Category	FLOWERS
Subcategory	floral · fruity · fresh
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Petunia × atkinsiana
Appearance	N/A — no commercial extract; trumpet-shaped flowers in varied colors
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	Argentina, Brazil
Pyramid	Heart

Faintly spicy-green with a subtle, powdery sweetness. Most petunias have barely any scent -- the few fragrant varieties offer a delicate, clove-like spiciness at dusk.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Quiet, green-spicy, and powdery. Like leaning close to an old-fashioned petunia at dusk -- you have to concentrate to catch it: a faint clove-like warmth, a green, slightly herbal freshness, and a powdery softness that dissolves as soon as you try to define it. One of perfumery's whisper notes.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Faint, green-spicy, powdery. A whisper of clove and green.

After a few hours

Nearly imperceptible. A soft, musky warmth.

After a few days

Gone. The note is intentionally ephemeral.

The Full Story

Petunia (Petunia species, Solanaceae family) is one of the world's most popular ornamental plants. Modern cultivars have been bred for color and hardiness at the expense of fragrance -- most commercial petunias have no detectable scent.

However, some older and wild species (particularly P. axillaris and certain heirloom varieties) produce a delicate fragrance, most noticeable at dusk and dawn. The scent is faintly spicy-green with a clove-like warmth (from traces of eugenol and methyl salicylate), a subtle powdery sweetness, and a light, herbaceous character.

In perfumery, petunia is a fantasy accord. The note captures the idea of a fragrant petunia: a quiet, unassuming flower whose scent is so faint it requires close attention and the right time of day. Perfumers build it from green notes, traces of eugenol (clove), methyl salicylate (wintergreen at very low levels), and transparent musks.

In a composition, petunia sits in the heart. It provides a delicate, barely-there floral presence.

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

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Did You Know?

Did you know?

Modern petunias have lost their scent because breeders prioritized color intensity and flower size over fragrance. Genetic studies show that the scent genes are still present but suppressed by regulatory mutations -- researchers have successfully reactivated petunia fragrance by modifying a single gene.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Not extracted for perfumery. Petunia flowers produce no viable essential oil. Fantasy accord built from green, spicy, and musky synthetics.

Molecular Formula	N/A — no commercial essential oil or absolute
CAS Number	N/A — natural flower, no commercial extraction
Botanical Name	Petunia × atkinsiana
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	N/A — no commercial extract; trumpet-shaped flowers in varied colors

In Perfumery

Heart note in delicate, garden-themed, and understated floral compositions. Functions as a barely-there floral with a spicy-green quality. Built from green notes, traces of eugenol and methyl salicylate, and transparent musks. Used where extreme subtlety is the intent.