Rosa Rubiginosa

NaturalFLOWERSfruity · floral · sweet

HeartPyramid

3/5Strength

—Tenacity

2Origins

Specimen

Rosa rubiginosa

Definition

Green apple peel crushed between fingers, with a faint rose underneath. Rosa rubiginosa's foliage, not its flowers, carries the scent -- a sharp, fruity-green surprise in the rose family.

FLORAL GREEN SWEET FRUITY FRESH

SWEET BRIAR ROSE EGLANTINE

Type: Ingredient
Olfactive family: Florals
Subfamily: Green florals
Cluster: Rose-like florals
Source: flowers
Chemical class: complex natural (essential oil)

Instruments

Pyramid

TTop

HHeart

BBase

3/5Strength

Medium

odour strength

Producing countries

Chile Europe

Scent

Green apple skin, leaf aldehyde sharpness, and a quiet rose underneath. More fruit than flower. The apple quality is tart, not sweet -- closer to a Granny Smith than a Fuji. Compared to Rosa damascena, sweet briar reads vastly greener and less honeyed. The effect is a walk through a wild hedgerow after rain.

In PREMIEREPEAU

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

Terroir & Origins

The Full Story

Rosa rubiginosa (sweet briar, eglantine) is unusual among roses: the primary fragrance comes from its leaves, not its flowers. The foliage, especially when brushed or dampened by rain, releases a pronounced green-apple scent from glandular trichomes on the leaf undersides. The flowers themselves are modest five-petalled pink blooms with a mild, generic rose sweetness.

The apple-green character of the leaves comes from trans-2-hexenal (leaf aldehyde) and nonanal, combined with the standard rose alcohols (citronellol, geraniol) at lower concentrations than in Rosa damascena. The hips (fruits) are rich in essential fatty acids and are commercially important for rosehip seed oil in skincare, though this oil is almost odourless.

In perfumery, Rosa rubiginosa is rarely used as an extract. The note is reconstructed to capture the leaf-apple-rose interaction: a green modifier with a fruity twist that no other rose material provides. It functions in the heart zone of green-floral and naturalistic compositions.

—

Did You Know?

Shakespeare's eglantine in A Midsummer Night's Dream refers to Rosa rubiginosa. The Elizabethans prized it not for its flowers but for its apple-scented leaves, which they planted beneath windows so rain would release the fragrance indoors.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method

No standardised essential oil or absolute of Rosa rubiginosa foliage is commercially produced for perfumery. Rosehip seed oil (from the fruits) is pressed for skincare but carries almost no scent. The leaf-apple impression is reconstructed synthetically.

Formula: N/A — complex seed/flower oil (key: linoleic acid, linolenic acid)
CAS: 223748-18-3
Botanical: Rosa rubiginosa
Appearance: Colorless to pale yellow liquid
Odour strength: Medium
Synonyms: SWEET BRIAR ROSE EGLANTINE

IFRA status

See note

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

Physical properties

Specific gravity: 0.92000 to 0.93000 @ 25.00 °C. (est)
Refractive index: 1.47500 to 1.48500 @ 20.00 °C. (est)

In Perfumery

Rosa rubiginosa (sweet briar) provides a unique green-apple-rose quality available from no other rose species. The scent comes from the leaves, not the flowers. The note functions as a green modifier in the heart zone, contributing a fruity-green freshness to naturalistic, hedgerow, and English-garden compositions. Key aroma molecules: trans-2-hexenal, nonanal, citronellol. The note works alongside violet leaf, galbanum, and green tea accords.

Role in the formula

01fixative

02diffusion enhancer

03signature note

04freshness

Available as

essential oil absolute concrete CO2 extract