Rosewood oil
- Type
- Essential oil
- Botanical name
- Aniba rosaeodora
- Other names
- bois de rose oil
The tree
The rosewood tree is a medium-sized, wild-growing tropical evergreen of the laurel family from the Amazon basin. In perfumery, "rosewood" means only this tree, although the trade uses the name for many other woods, among them amyris, the so-called West Indian rosewood.[1] The tree has been exploited for its oil since the end of the nineteenth century, and its likeness to other Aniba species often leads to misidentification, which affects the consistency of the oil.[2]
How the oil is made
The oil is steam-distilled, occasionally water-distilled, from the chipped wood. It was produced in Brazil, Peru and French Guiana; the oil from French Guiana, "Cayenne rosewood", has the best scent.[1]
Composition
Linalool makes up over 70% of the oil in the perfumery literature.[1] A comparison of two wild populations in the Brazilian state of Pará found oils with 83.7% linalool in one and 39.6% linalool with 22.8% alpha-phellandrene in the other,[2] and one laboratory sample contained 93.6% linalool.[3]
Scent and uses
The oil smells refreshing, sweet-woody and somewhat floral-spicy; its top note varies with origin and quality and is usually somewhat camphor-like and peppery. Its main role is as a source of natural linalool, which is used widely in floral perfumes such as those that smell of lilac, lily of the valley or neroli; the oil itself scents soap. Rosewood oil has long competed with synthetic linalool and with ho leaf oil.[1]
Quality and adulteration
In the 1960s the oil was occasionally adulterated with terpineol, myrcene or fractions of pine oil, and more often contaminated with oil from the wood of a related tree, louro nhamuy, that grows nearby.[1]
Products containing it
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Steffen Arctander, Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin, Elizabeth, NJ, 1960: Bois de Rose Oil.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Diana R. Amazonas et al., Chemical and Genotypic Variations in Aniba rosiodora from the Brazilian Amazon Forest. Molecules 2020, 26(1), 69.
- ↑ Amanda Mara Teles et al., Aniba rosaeodora (Var. amazonica Ducke) Essential Oil: Chemical Composition, Antibacterial, Antioxidant and Antitrypanosomal Activity. Antibiotics 2021, 10(1), 24.