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Pinwheel Flower

Q: Is Pinwheel Flower natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: Not commercially extracted for international perfumery. Used in traditional South Asian scented preparations. Fantasy accord..

FLOWERS / floral · green · powdery

Pinwheel Flower

Category	FLOWERS
Subcategory	floral · green · powdery
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Tabernaemontana divaricata
Appearance	Pale yellow to colorless liquid (floral extract or accord)
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	India, Sri Lanka, Thailand
Pyramid	Heart

Sweet, jasmine-adjacent, and heady. Tabernaemontana divaricata -- a tropical flower with a heavy, creamy-white fragrance that intensifies at night.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Heavy, sweet, and jasmine-like. Like walking past a hedge of crepe jasmine at midnight in Kerala -- the white flowers glow in the dark and pour out a thick, indolic, creamy sweetness that saturates the warm night air. Less green than jasmine, more purely sweet.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Heavy, sweet, jasmine-like. Night-blooming intensity.

After a few hours

The indolic quality deepens. Creamy, narcotic white-floral warmth.

After a few days

A smooth, sweet, floral residue.

The Full Story

Pinwheel flower (Tabernaemontana divaricata, syn. Ervatamia coronaria), also called crepe jasmine or moonbeam, is a tropical shrub native to South and Southeast Asia. The waxy, white, pinwheel-shaped flowers have a strong, sweet fragrance similar to of jasmine, particularly intense at night.

The scent is heavy, creamy-white, and sweetly floral with a jasmine-like indolic quality. Like many nocturnal-fragrant tropicals, the pinwheel flower amplifies its scent production after sunset to attract night-flying moths.

The flowers are not commercially extracted for international perfumery but are used in South and Southeast Asian traditional garland-making and scented preparations.

In perfumery, pinwheel flower is a fantasy accord built from jasmine-type materials, heavy white-floral musks, and creamy-sweet elements.

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?

Tabernaemontana divaricata is named after the 16th-century German herbalist Jacobus Theodorus Tabernaemontanus (born Jakob Dietrich von Bergzabern). The plant produces a milky latex containing numerous alkaloids -- it belongs to the Apocynaceae family, the same family as oleander and frangipani.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Not commercially extracted for international perfumery. Used in traditional South Asian scented preparations. Fantasy accord.

Molecular Formula	Complex — key alkaloids: Coronaridine (C₂₁H₂₆N₂O₂), Ibogamine; flower volatiles include linalool, methyl salicylate
CAS Number	N/A (no standardized essential oil CAS)
Botanical Name	Tabernaemontana divaricata
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Synonyms	VINCA · PERIWINKLE
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	Pale yellow to colorless liquid (floral extract or accord)

In Perfumery

Heart note in heavy white-floral, tropical, and night-scented compositions. Functions as a jasmine-adjacent, night-blooming floral. Built from jasmine materials, heavy floral musks, and creamy-sweet lactones.