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Rose Apple

FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS  /  fruity · floral · fresh
Rose Apple
Rose Apple perfume ingredient
CategoryFRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS
Subcategoryfruity · floral · fresh
Origin
VolatilityHeart Note
BotanicalSyzygium jambos
AppearancePale yellow to amber liquid
Odor StrengthMedium
Producing CountriesBrazil, India
PyramidHeart

A tropical fruit (Syzygium jambos) with a faint rose scent. Not a perfumery raw material — the 'rose apple' note in fragrance is a conceptual reconstruction, rare in fine perfumery.

  1. Scent
  2. The Full Story
  3. Fun Fact
  4. Extraction & Chemistry
  5. In Perfumery

Scent

Rose apple, as reconstruction, presents a particular blend of sweet and floral notes — a delicate rose garden filtered through a faint pear-skin crispness. The scent is rose-fruity, less juicy than lychee, less heady than rose absolute itself. The accord sits in the heart-to-top of fruity-floral compositions and rarely persists past the first hour on skin.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Immediately

A crisp, sweet aroma reminiscent of fresh apples and delicate flowers.
After a few hours

After a few hours

The scent evolves into a more rounded and warm profile.
After a few days

After a few days

Soft, lingering floral and fruity notes remain, adding depth.

The Full Story

Rose apple (Syzygium jambos, Myrtaceae) is a tropical fruit native to Southeast Asia — small, pale, faintly rose-scented, with a crisp pear-like texture. The genus Syzygium also contains clove (S. aromaticum) and Eugenia berries; rose apple is the dessert species of the family.

In perfumery

Rose apple has no commercial perfumery extract — the fruit's volatile aroma is dominated by short-chain esters and a small fraction of α-pinene and rose-like trace compounds that do not survive industrial extraction. The 'rose apple' note in fragrance, where it appears, is a conceptual reference: a faint rose-fruity-pear reconstruction built from phenethyl alcohol (rose), pear ester ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, and a touch of α-pinene. The fruit's perfumery presence is marginal — more aspirational than actual.

Did You Know?

Did you know?
Rose apple belongs to the Myrtaceae family alongside guava, clove, and eucalyptus — not the Rosaceae (true apples). The 'rose' in its name refers only to its delicate floral aroma when fresh, not to any botanical relationship to roses.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Not commercially extracted. Syzygium jambos fruit has no widely traded essential oil. The 'rose apple' note is a reconstructed accord using cis-rose oxide, 2-phenylethanol, and apple-pear esters.

Molecular FormulaComplex mixture (no single formula)
CAS Number8000-51-9 (Syzygium jambos oil)
Botanical NameSyzygium jambos
IFRA StatusNo known restrictions
SynonymsJAMBOSE · MALABAR PLUM · WATER APPLE
Physical Properties
Odor StrengthMedium
Lasting Power200 hours
AppearancePale yellow to amber liquid

In Perfumery

Rose apple functions as a heart-note fantasy accord rather than an extracted material. The construction draws on the rose-floral character of cis-rose oxide and 2-phenylethanol overlapping with apple-pear esters (ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, hexyl acetate), producing a transparent, dewy effect. It serves niche compositions referencing Indian, Indonesian, or Filipino tropical-garden imagery. Best dosed at 0.5-2% in a formula's heart, paired with green leaf molecules (cis-3-hexenol), white tea accords, or transparent white florals to support the floral-fruit ambiguity without resorting to traditional rose absolute.

From the raw to the worn

This is what it becomes.