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Sweet Alyssum

Q: Is Sweet Alyssum natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: No commercial extraction. Flowers too small and scent too mild..

FLOWERS / sweet · floral · fresh

Sweet Alyssum

Category	FLOWERS
Subcategory	sweet · floral · fresh
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Lobularia maritima
Appearance	Not commercially extracted; scent reconstructed in perfumery
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	Europe
Pyramid	Heart

Honey-sweet, gentle, faintly cruciferous. Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) smells like warm honey with a barely perceptible cabbagey undertone from its Brassicaceae origins.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Honey-sweet, gentle, almond-like. A simple, pleasant sweetness. Faint cabbagey undertone barely noticeable. The smell of a ground-cover plant that asks nothing of you.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Gentle honey-sweet opening

After a few hours

Soft almond-honey warmth

After a few days

Faint sweet trace, quickly fading

The Full Story

Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) is a Mediterranean Brassicaceae plant. Key odorants: benzaldehyde (almond), phenylacetaldehyde (honey-like), traces of isothiocyanates (cabbage-family sulfur, subdued).

The honey quality is genuine: the scent is optimized to attract bees. Phenylacetaldehyde is the same molecule in buckwheat honey.

In perfumery, sweet alyssum is a niche reference for gentle, honey-sweet garden florals. Too mild for commercial extraction.

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?

Sweet alyssum is in the same family as cabbage, broccoli, and wasabi (Brassicaceae). Its flowers contain trace isothiocyanates at concentrations too low to smell sulfurous.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: No commercial extraction. Flowers too small and scent too mild.

Molecular Formula	Key volatiles include phenylacetaldehyde (C₈H₈O), methyl benzoate (C₈H₈O₂)
CAS Number	N/A — natural extract, complex mixture
Botanical Name	Lobularia maritima
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Synonyms	Alyssum maritimum, Lobularia
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	Not commercially extracted; scent reconstructed in perfumery

In Perfumery

Heart modifier for gentle honey-sweet floral compositions. Key odorants: phenylacetaldehyde and benzaldehyde. Too mild for extraction. Reconstructed synthetically.