Amyris essential oil

Amyris essential oil is the essential oil steam-distilled from the wood of the amyris tree, the so-called West Indian rosewood. It was formerly called West Indian sandalwood oil, but it does not come from sandalwood, and perfumers value it mainly as a cheap way to make other scents last longer and to blend them gently.

Type

Essential oil

Botanical name

Amyris balsamifera

Other names

amyris oil; formerly West Indian sandalwood oil

The tree

The amyris tree grows in the north of South America, in Central America and in the West Indies and has been introduced in many tropical regions; its wood is an excellent furniture wood. In the 1960s the oil was distilled mainly in Haiti, and to a lesser extent in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Venezuela.

Composition

In one laboratory analysis of oil steam-distilled from crushed fresh wood, the main components were valerianol (23.2%), guaiol (19.4%) and 10-epi-gamma-eudesmol (14.8%); an earlier study found alpha-eudesmol, beta-eudesmol and valerianol as the main components.

Scent and uses

The oil is a viscous, pale yellow to brownish-yellow liquid. Its scent is faintly woody but not dry, slightly oily-sweet and balsamic, sometimes with a faint peppery top note; it lasts a long time but soon loses its richness and fades into a weak woody-balsamic note, and it varies with the age of the oil and of the wood.

Amyris oil is widely used in perfumes, especially scents for soap, to blend other scents gently together, and because it is cheap it often goes into inexpensive fragrances to make them last longer. Its woody effect is far weaker than that of sandalwood oil.

Quality and adulteration

By the 1960s amyris oil had become subject to extensive adulteration: some fractions were sold separately, and others were cut with cedarwood oil or copaiba balsam. Amyris oil itself was customarily added, at 5%, to vetiver oil produced in Haiti.