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Water Lily Leaf

Q: Is Water Lily Leaf natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: No commercial essential oil or absolute from water lily leaves. The note is reconstructed from green-leaf synthetics, waxy materials, and aquatic modifiers..

GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES / fresh · green · aquatic

Water Lily Leaf

Category	GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES
Subcategory	fresh · green · aquatic
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Nymphaea
Appearance	Pale green to amber liquid (absolute/extract)
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	Egypt, India, Thailand
Pyramid	Heart

Green, waxy, with a cold aquatic edge. The underside of a lily pad — slippery, vegetal, and distinctly pond-like.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Green, waxy, with a cold aquatic edge. The wax coating provides a smooth, lipidic quality absent from most green notes. Less sharp than galbanum, more aquatic than violet leaf, with a specific pond-vegetation character. The overall impression is of a green surface sitting on cold water — two environments at once.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Green, waxy, with aquatic freshness

After a few hours

Softer green, smooth and pond-like

After a few days

Faint waxy-green trace

The Full Story

Water lily leaf (the lily pad) has a scent profile quite different from the flower. The leaves are large, waxy, and floating, with a green-aquatic character marked by a particular waxy coating (cuticle) that gives them their water-repellent surface.

Crushed lily pad leaves smell green, slightly fatty, and aquatic — the wax layer contributes a smooth, lipidic quality, while the green tissues release cis-3-hexenal (leaf aldehyde) and other green-cut volatiles. The undersurface, which sits in the water, has a more distinctly aquatic-pond quality.

In perfumery, water lily leaf is a niche green-aquatic note that provides the environmental context of a pond — the vegetative atmosphere around the flower rather than the flower itself.

This note in Première Peau. Simili Mirage · Gravitas Capitale. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

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Related: Acronychia Pedunculata · Adoxal · Agave · Algae · Aloe Vera · Aromatic Notes · Asparagus · Avocado

Did You Know?

Did you know?

Lily pads exhibit the 'lotus effect' — their waxy surface is superhydrophobic, covered in microscopic bumps that cause water to bead and roll off, carrying dirt particles with it. This self-cleaning mechanism, studied and named after the related lotus leaf, has inspired industrial coatings, paints, and textiles.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: No commercial essential oil or absolute from water lily leaves. The note is reconstructed from green-leaf synthetics, waxy materials, and aquatic modifiers.

Molecular Formula	N/A — natural plant material, complex mixture
CAS Number	N/A — no standard CAS for Nymphaea leaf extract
Botanical Name	Nymphaea
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Synonyms	Nymphaea leaf, water lily pad
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	Pale green to amber liquid (absolute/extract)

In Perfumery

Water lily leaf is a green-aquatic modifier providing pond-surface atmosphere. Reconstructed from waxy-green materials (cis-3-hexenyl acetate), aquatic notes, and lipidic-smooth synthetics. Functions as a top-to-heart modifier in aquatic, green, and pond-themed compositions. Provides the vegetative environment that contextualizes water lily flower notes.