SPEARMINT

SPEARMINT PROFILE

By Jeanne Rose ~ April 2020

Synopsis: Yes, there is a difference between Spearmint and Peppermint, defined by their content of carvone and menthol as well as botany, folklore, odor description, properties. The uses of Spearmint described.

2 essential oil bottles of Spearmint with a piece of the plant — Essential oils courtesy of Eden Botanicals. *Fig. 1*

INTRODUCTION ~ Just don’t call it mint, call it what it is. Is it Spearmint, Peppermint, or Menthol-mint (Mentha arvensis)? There are 13 species of the Mentha genus. Here they are. The ones with the ‘x’ are made by humans by crossing one species of the plant with another, they are considered sterile and usually do not produce seed and have to be duplicated by cloning or by replanting the underground stems. Those in bold will reproduce by seed. But all types of mint can be spread by their stolons to form clonal colonies.
In this post we will mainly discuss the Spearmint and next month will concentrate on the Peppermint.
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•Mentha aquatica L. – water mint
•Mentha arvensis L. – wild mint or Japanese menthol mint
•Mentha x gracilis Sole – ginger mint
•Mentha x muelleriana F.W.Schultz – mint ([arvensis ssp. arvensis × suaveolens]
•Mentha x piperita – Peppermint [aquatica x spicata]
•Mentha pulegium L. – pennyroyal
•Mentha x rotundifolia (L.) – Egyptian mint [longifolia × suaveolens]
•Mentha x smithiana Graham – Smiths mint or Redstem Mint [aquatica, spicata, arvensis & hard to tell from Peppermint]
•Mentha spicata L. – spearmint (the mint of the ancients)
•Mentha suaveolens Ehrh. – apple mint
•Mentha x verticillata L. – whorled mint [aquatica × arvensis]
•Mentha x villosa Huds. – mojito mint [spicata × suaveolens]

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COMMON NAME/LATIN BINOMIAL ~ Spearmint, Mentha spicata

Botanical Family ~ Lamiaceae

Naming Information ~ Genus name comes from Minthe or Menthe, a water nymph in Greek mythology. And from a legend of the beginning of the Earth, “…When Man came, he saw the plants and remembered some of his past in the wonderful Kingdom, he smelled the wonderful scents and saw pictures in his Mind. So, whenever a man was asked the name of the fragrant plants, he called them mint.” —Kitchen Cosmetics, p. 78

COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN ~ Native to the Mediterranean.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PLANT, HABITAT & GROWTH: Spearmint is a very hardy, perennial herb with bright green, fragrant leaves, that sets seeds, that quickly exhausts the soil and needs to be replanted regularly via the underground or over-ground stems or seeds. Many Mints behave in this manner. This species can easily hybridize with other Mentha species to form hybrids. This mint LOOKS different than either Peppermint or Lemon Balm. The green is softer in Spearmint than the bluish Peppermint, and it looks somewhat like Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) but not as hairy on the leaves. In Spearmint the leaves have little hairs on the backside or dorsal surface and the stems are red while in Lemon Balm the hair is on the top or ventral surface of the leaf and the stems are green. The smell is very eponymously Spearmint with none of the menthol from Peppermint or the lemon scent of Lemon Balm.

Spearmint was once called M. longifolia or M. viridis. It is a perennial that grows to 30 inches, glabrous (free from hair or down; smooth) with strong and sweet scent; leaves are sessile and lanceolate, to 2 inches long, acute serrate, arranged along square red stems, petioles about 1/16^th inch long; inflorescence is variable; calyx campanulate, teeth nearly equal, [all the petals of a flower called] the corolla is lilac, pink or white. Summer is the season. Origin not known; naturalized widely in Europe. Widely cultivated as sweet herb and for essential oils. Several cultivars. ²

Spearmint (Mentha spicata) and Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis). Both plants showing difference in the leaves, one hairy, one smoother. — **Spearmint and LemonBalm**. *Fig. 2*

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PORTION OF SPEARMINT PLANT USED IN DISTILLATION, HOW DISTILLED, EXTRACTION METHODS & YIELD ~ The over-ground tops and flowers of Spearmint are harvested, as, after maximum bloom, the oil content in the plant decreases. The plants are cut and allowed to dry on the ground, 2 or more days, depending upon the weather, until ‘clover dry’, that is, NOT brittle. They are taken to the various distilleries, packed into the tubs, moistened by the steam, sealed in and steam-distilled.

“There are two chemotypes of Spearmint dependent upon where they are grown. In Egypt, one had both good carvone and limonene and a better yield (grown in Siwa Oasis), while the other analyzed from Cairo had less quantity oil but with a higher percentage of carvone.”⁸
IF you wish to see a distillation of Spearmint go to https://peppermintjim.com/ and for the distillation of Spearmint https://peppermintjim.com/our-process/

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An essential oil gland of mint, showing the peltate trichome. — Peltate trichomes. ***Fig. 3***

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Yield ~ The over-ground plant is steam distilled. “A 3,000 lbs. charge requires up to 30-50 minutes and produces over 20 pounds of oil” 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols, p. 142. One acre of Spearmint may yield 35-40 lbs. of oil.⁵

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Showing the color (or lack of) of Spearmint oil and a portion of the plant. — *Fig. 4.* **Showing Spearmint oil and a portion of the plant**

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Distillation as such is an entirely natural phenomenon.
When, raising your head you look at the clouds in the sky, those are but the evaporation visible patterns. And when you tread upon the early morning dew, it is the condensate of the night.”… Georges Ferrando

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CO₂Extraction – Peppermint and Spearmint oils were extracted from cut green plants and field-dried hay with liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide at 297 to 316 K and 6 to 18 MPa. Solvent treatment was varied from 6 to 30 g CO₂/g dry plant material. Extraction time was varied from 4 to 9 hours. Extraction vessel charge sizes were 4.4 and 33 L. Downflow of carbon dioxide through the bed of mint plants was more effective than upflow. Essential oil compositions and attainable yields were nearly the same as those by steam distillation when single-pass mode of CO₂ with depressurization to atmospheric pressure was used for oil recovery. The recovery of the terpene constituents was reduced when using depressurization to 3–6 MPa for oil recovery and recycling of CO₂. The flavor and fragrance of the carbon dioxide mint extracts were closest in quality to actual mint plant leaves, compared to mint oils produced by conventional steam distillation.¹

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The sensory characters of Spearmint in a chart. — **Spearmint sensory characters**

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Spearmint oil in colorless bottles showing what spearmint oil looks like. One is slightly pink from Eden and the Crosby Spearmint oil is yellow. — Fig. 5. Spearmint oil courtesy of Eden Botanicals & Crosby Mint Farms

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ODOR DESCRIPTION ~ Spearmint and Caraway have the same component of scent, carvone, but a different mirror-image isomer. Spearmint has a fresh, herbal, green and minty odor with an odor threshold of 43 ppb (part per billion) while Caraway has a fresh, herbal and green, but spicy odor with an odor threshold of 600 ppb. An easy experiment is to mix equal parts of each of these essential oils and then pass the bottle around to students and have them guess what they are smelling. Because they both contain the same molecule, carvone, but a different isomer of it, you will have guesses equally on both sides of the scent and some people will be totally unable to figure it out. After smelling both, you will be able to isolate and identify each scent but when mixed together it becomes more difficult. This is a wonderful exercise for an aromatherapy class.

CHEMICAL COMPONENTS ~ You will find numerous people and numerous websites that state that Spearmint has menthol. Spearmint DOES NOT contain menthol unless it is a specifically-bred or a hybrid variety that has been bred specifically for this. Since Spearmint is used to modify the scent and flavor of Peppermint, this may be where the mix-up in the plant began with people. In most of the GC/MS charts I have looked at, Spearmint does not contain menthol. In a few, I have seen menthol at less than 1% but here it could be that some Peppermint or Menthol-mint was mixed into the batch?
Spearmint does contain up to 56% l-Carvone, Terpenes, Limonene, Phellandrenes, and, sometimes, Linaloöl and Cineol.
Carvone is the same molecule that is shared with Caraway and the difference is that the molecule is chiral. Carvone occurs in both Caraway and Spearmint and accounts for their scent, a mirror-image compound, an identical lookalike (in the mirror) but a very different odor. They are perceived as smelling differently and that is proof that olfactory receptors must contain chiral groups, allowing them to respond more strongly to one odor or the other.

**Interesting Spearmint (carvone) chemistry**

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The chemistry of Brazilian Spearmint oil, (Mentha spicata), major compounds were carvone (67%), limonene (14.3%), muurolene (2.3%), and myrcene (2.1%). There was no menthol.

Carvone is considered to be an antioxidant. Results were compared with a standard antioxidant, α‐tocopherol. The results of the test indicate that S‐carvone possess high antioxidant activity compared to α‐tocopherol.⁷

As described above the main components are carvone for the scent and limonene, myrcene, and others. It is possible to distinguish by taste and odor between the dextro- and laevo-rotatory form of carvone, dextro-carvone in Caraway seed oil, and laevo-rotatory carvone in Spearmint herb oil. I have only seen one paper out of 25 that listed menthol as a component in Spearmint (Mentha spicata) and that was at 1.88% of the total. This paper co-listed Peppermint and Spearmint together.

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Two different isomers of carvone and two plants; Spearmint and Caraway. Fig. 6

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PHYSIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES

……..Solubility – Spearmint is soluble in 1 volume of 80% alcohol and is turbid with more (lesser percentage) than that. If you make a hand sanitizer starting with 3 oz of 95% alcohol, add 4-5 drops of Spearmint essential oil, mix, and then add 1 oz. of water to reduce the percentage of alcohol to about 70%. You will see the turbidity of the product.

HISTORICAL USES ~ The herb tea has been widely used as a tonic drink almost everywhere it has been introduced.
……………The following refers to Spearmint or wild Mint, not Peppermint. In the first century A.D., the naturalist Pliny wrote: “The smell of mint (Spearmint) stirs up the mind and appetite to a greedy desire of food.”³ (Plinie’s Natural History First Century AD. Translated by Philemon Holland.). He recommended binding the head in a crown of mint, which delights the soul and is good for the mind. Pliny, along with Hippocrates and Aristotle judged it ‘contrary to procreation’, while the Greeks were of the opposite opinion: they forbade their soldiers to eat (Spear)mint because it so incites a man to love, diminishing his courage. It was found that the Greeks, not Pliny, have been shown to be correct.
In the 17th century, wild mint or Spearmint took a foothold in what is now Great Britain. Found growing in the wild, it was first cultivated in 1750, spreading to the continent in 1770. The English herbalist Culpeper prescribed the herb as a ‘great strengthener of the stomach’. During the 1800s, English herbalists and doctors alike used (Spear)mint in special Family Dispensatory Chests, which contained “those drugs and herbs with which one person, at least, in every village ought to be provided.”

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INTERESTING FACTS ~ Spearmint tea is poured after every meal in Egypt. One of the more interesting properties mentioned for Spearmint tea is that that could help treat mild hirsutism (hairiness) ) in women.¹⁰ Drink up to 5 cups/day.¹⁰ Maybe this is one of the reasons it is so enjoyed as a tea.

The oil extracted from Native Spearmint is used in Michigan and is considered highly concentrated. One pound will flavor 135,000 sticks of gum. Chewing gum companies regularly blend Spearmint and Peppermint oils to maintain a consistent and specific flavor. An advantage to growing mint is farmers may store the oil for several years if market prices fall.⁹

GENERAL PROPERTIES OF SPEARMINT

Spearmint is an anti-inflammatory, calming, mucolytic, an antioxidant, and a tonic for the digestive system. It has a wonderful ability, when inhaled, to create a feeling of joy and happiness and therefore makes an excellent addition to stress relief blends. It is also packed with antioxidants and good for digestion, has been said to have anti-fungal properties, as well as the properties indicated for all sorts of respiratory problems and chronic bronchitis.⁴

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Antioxidant and antibacterial activities and composition of Brazilian spearmint (Mentha spicata L.)..Author links. —https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2013.07.007 … Brazilian Spearmint, Mentha spicata) The major compounds of the essential oil were carvone (67%), limonene (14.3%), muurolene (2.3%), and myrcene (2.1%).
•The plant leaf methanol extract has strong antioxidant activity.
•The plant component carvone is an anti-oxidant.
•The essential oil extracted by hydro-distillation has good antimicrobial activity.
•37 compounds were identified and carvone being the major compound in the oil.

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Spearmint Properties (by IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application)
      Application: Antiseptic. Digestive. Fever reducing. Anti-inflammatory.
Ingestion:     Digestive. Antispasmodic. Digestive tonic.
            Inhalation:    Stimulant. Antidepressant. Tonic. Calmative. Mucolytic.

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Spearmint PHYSICAL USES & HOW USED (IG OR AP)

APPLICATION — The essential oil is used in many body-care products for soothing the skin and treating acne and relieving skin irritations. This is a wonderful herb to use in any bath herb, and the essential oil can be added to a skin lotion or skincare products. It is so refreshing and healing. Both the herb and the essential oil are excellent additions to products, blends, and foods. Please read Jeanne Rose Herbal Body Book for 400 pages of great information and formulas.

Try the Spearmint and Peppermint Lip Balm, roll-ons, room misters, and inhalers from Crosby Mint Farm. This is a family-run company that began over 100 years ago. See the photo below. https://peppermintjim.com/product-tag/crosby-mint-farms/

Bottles of Peppermint essential oil, body wash, and Spearmint essential oil and lip balm. — *Fig. 7a -Essential oils and products with spearmint and peppermint oil*

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INGESTION — The herb and essential oil can be used for digestive ailments. Nausea. Vomiting. Gums. Candies. Dental products.
•The herb tea is taken for digestive disturbances and is lightly fever-reducing.
•Chewing gum ~ Of all the flavors incorporated into chewing gum, Spearmint and combination mint flavors have been some of the most popular. Most widely used have been Peppermint and Spearmint as well as blends of the two. Typically, these two flavors are added to chewing gum in the form of their essential oils. Peppermint oil is derived by distillation of the aerial parts of the perennial herb Mentha x piperita L. Oil of Cornmint, derived from Mentha arvensis L. var piperescens, can also be blended with Peppermint oil. Oil of Spearmint is derived from the distillation of several varieties of this genus. The principle species and varieties are Mentha spicata L. and Mentha verticillata, and Mentha cardiaca. —part of a patent application filed in 1989 and 2020-03-28 Application status is Expired – Lifetime

INHALATION — Spearmint can be added to any blend that is used for respiratory ailments and chronic bronchitis. It has a relaxing and happy odor.
•Diffuse/Diffusion — Spearmint oil can be added to almost any blend where you want the scent of refreshment and joy. Try it. It will make you feel joyous.

EMOTIONAL USES (AP OR IN)— Spearmint is applied to the temples for headache; it can be inhaled as a memoristic antidepressant, and it alleviates mental strain and fatigue as well as acting as a tonic for the entire system.
            •Calming Spearmint E.O. is used by inhalation and blends can include Bergamot, most of the Citrus fruit oils, Cumin, Eucalyptus citriodora, Lavender, Marjoram, Spearmint (calming and joyous), and their comparable hydrosols used as spray mists.
•Emotional/Energetic Use – Uplifting. Reduces nervous stress and tension. Ylang Ylang Extra with a touch of Spearmint is a delicious scent to inhale for headaches or to soothe your depression. Dilute with a carrier oil or alcohol and put into a small bottle so that you can carry it around with you and inhale it whenever.
            Scott Cunningham in his book, Magical Aromatherapy, suggests that Spearmint an element of Air and whose magical influences are healing, protection, and promoting sleep and when inhaled it helps one with visualization to speed healing; wrap the fresh sprigs in a bag and inhale the bag as you fall asleep, visualizing that it is wrapping you in protective energy.

THE FORMULA FOR NINON BATH HERBS

            •This is one of the first herbal baths that I ever made. I found the formula in an old (260 years old then) and made it in 1969, wrote it up for my book, Herbs & Things and have used it ever since. It was #1 in my New Age Creations formulary.
________“Ninon de Lenclos, properly Anne de Lanclos, was born in 1620 and died eighty-five years later after having lived an exciting and scandalous life as a French courtesan, epicurean, and confidante to such literate men as Molière and Scarron and to the famous libertins of the period. She was forcefully retired to a nunnery, finally released, wrote La Coquette Vengée, retired from love (though she almost committed incest with her grandson at the age of seventy), and in her will left one thousand francs to Voltaire. She was a celebrated beauty. When she died in 1705 at eighty-five years, her body had retained her youthful curves; her skin remained moist and smooth. Her beauty secrets were many and varied but the one she felt to be most important was her daily herbal Bath:” …
•1 handful each of dried or fresh
Lavender flowers, Rosemary, Spearmint, Crushed Comfrey Root and Thyme.
            Pour a quart of boiling water over the mixture, cover, and steep for 20 minutes. Strain. Pour the entire contents into your bathtub, collecting the solids in sieve or sock, and soak for at least 20 minutes.
            For a nice variation, add 1 handful of Rosebuds.”

Spearmint grown in Jeanne Rose's garden in San Francisco — *Fig. 7.* Jeanne Rose garden Spearmint

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GENERAL HERBAL USES OF SPEARMINT – Mentha spicata

Medicinal uses ~ The Herb Spearmint has been used extensively for its medicinal properties for over 3000 years. It can be used internally as a tea, can be used to make poultices or balms, or can be inhaled to make use of joyful quality. Mints medicinal properties include stomachic, stimulant, calmative, disinfectant, and nervine. The following afflictions are treated with Spearmint herb and/or essential oil:
•Colds – The Flathead and Kutenai Indian tribes drank native wild mint or Spearmint teas to treat both the coughs and fevers associated with colds.
            •Digestive Ailments – An overall aid to most digestive disorders, it is especially beneficial in the treatment of flatulence, diarrhea, and colic, retching, and vomiting. A poultice of Spearmint leaves over the stomach region also helps to aid in digestive distress. Spearmint tea also helps to promote appetite.
            •Female afflictions- Spearmint can be used to treat strong menstrual cramps. In Near Eastern societies it helps to increase sexual desire, suppressed menstruation, decreases a mild supply of nursing mothers, and helps to relieve the breast of curdled or congested milk via compress. Spearmint tea reduces hirsutism in women.¹⁰
            •Fertility – The Japanese and Arabs believe that Spearmint tea, or chewing several fresh leaves helps to promote fertility in the male.
      •Heart Ailments – The Blackfeet Indians, as well as other tribes, chewed wild Spearmint leaves to treat chest pains and strengthen heart muscles.
            •Nervous System- All Spearmint teas have a soothing quality and are used to treat nervousness, fatigue, nausea, vertigo, hiccoughs, palpitations, anger, confusion, depression and mental strain.
       •Rashes – Spearmint oil can be rubbed on poison ivy rash, diaper rash and athlete’s foot.
     •Toothache  – A drop of Spearmint essential oil can be used directly on the source of pain to help alleviate the pain from both cavities and gum disease.

BLENDING AND PERFUMERY ~ Spearmint has a bright and joyous scent and can perk up any perfume that is heavy on the floral scent. It mixes well with Ylang Ylang. You just need a bit. Start with 10 drops of Ylang Extra and 1 drop of Spearmint. Smell it. Then add either more of the floral or more of the green herbal scent depending upon what pleases you. Remember that Spearmint contains carvone and not menthol and that it has an herbaceous and green note.
Spearmint blends with the herbs such as Basil, Lavender, Marjoram and Rosemary; it blends with spices such as Black or green Pepper, Ginger; with florals such as Jasmine and Ylang Ylang and with many of the citrus scents like Grapefruit and Lemon. These all can be used as mixtures for room diffusing.

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JEANNE ROSE’S TOMATO TALES – Spearmint

            In the early days of my keeping records of all the essential oils that I used, I also kept an emotion chart that I used with my students to get their favorite scents for certain emotions. This was in 1972 and I called the chart, “Scent & Psyche: Experience Aroma”. I had a paper file of dozens of these charts from all my previous classes and had included the information in a book that I had written called “Aromatherapy – Inhalations for the Mind”. If you have never heard of that book that is not a surprise as I took the written prototype with me when I went to New York in 1975 to speak before the “Fragrance Foundation” and lost it along with my suitcase at the airport and all my lecture notes as well on the way to the Plaza Hotel where I would be staying. It was a devastating loss to me not only because I lost my lecture notes but also that it was the only draft of the book that I was delivering to the publisher. This book once was written but was not rewritten and eventually evolved into “The Aromatherapy Book – Applications & Inhalations” and that can be obtained from my own website at this time.
……….One thing I learned from the collection of these charts is that many dozens of my American students always said that Spearmint made them happy, that it smelled like their childhood, that is smelled like chewing gum, but my Asian students thought it smelled like cleaning fluids. Scents do have power, and they also have cultural differences depending upon where you grew up and where you experienced them.
           Europeans also do not have the same ‘feelings’ about Spearmint as Americans do even though Spearmint is indigenous to Europe and Asia and then became naturalized in North America where it became a favorite.
            If you want to learn more about this, please enroll in my study program called The Aromatherapy Studies Course. Chapter 8 is a large part of that program.

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SPEARMINT HYDROSOL is known to have calming, cleansing, and carminative effects on the digestive system when taken as a drink and is used externally as a spray for skin irritations, is calming to the senses, and cooling on the skin. This hydrosol is a great skin toner, and if kept cold in the refrigerator it makes a wonderful relieving mist during a ‘hot flash’.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

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A plant of native Spearmint from Crosby Mint farm in Michigan. Please note the smaller, more narrow leaves than the previous picture. — **Fig. 7a.** **Crosby Mint Farm, a native Spearmint.**

Fig.7a – Crosby Mint Farm Native Spearmint. Please note the smaller and more narrow leaves than the previous picture.

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HERBAL USE OF SPEARMINT

•HERBAL TEA of SPEARMINT. As previously stated, science has shown that 2-5 cups per day of Spearmint tea will relieve hairiness and PCOS in women.¹⁰. It is also delicious to drink and is very refreshing.

•HERBAL BATHS, SHAMPOOS, AND HAIR CONDITIONERS. It is so easy to customize your hair, skin and body care products with herbs. And Spearmint is ideal for this. I am in love with a mixture of Spearmint and Rosemary herb in my shampoo and hair conditioner. I just get my favorite shampoo or conditioner and customize it by adding ¼ cup of a strong infusion of these herbs to 1-oz of the product and then proceed to wash or condition as usual. is 400 pages of skincare formulas and recipes using both herbs and essential oils. It is available from jeannerose.net.

•CULINARY USE OF SPEARMINT ~ Spearmint has been used extensively in the preparation of foods throughout the world. Though seldom cooked, mint can be used to make teas, jellies, candies, and gums. In the Middle East, mint leaves are added to salads, which makes it more flavorful, as well as adds high concentrations of vitamins A, C and carotene. Mint (spearmint) sauce is the basic accompaniment to roast lamb and veal and is said to help in the digestion of these (immature) meats. [see The Herbal Guide to Food for more uses.]
Mentha spicata could also be considered an antioxidant source. In fact, spearmint and spearmint extracts are often used as preservative agents to delay the oxidative degradation that occurs in food during processing or over time with storage.⁶

•Cocktails and Beverages.

•The Ginger Rogers as submitted by that super innovative, and historically accurate barman, Marcovaldo Dionysos is one of his two favorite cocktails with Spearmint. Both were featured on the menu at Absinthe Brasserie & Bar when it opened in 1998 in San Francisco, and the Ginger Rogers was the most popular drink on the menu for many years. He says, “I like to refer to the Ginger Rogers as a “Mojito, backward in high heels”, referring to the dance steps she had to perform with Fred Astaire”. It was adapted from the “Favorite Cocktail” from Drinks, by Jacques Straub (1914).

10-12 fresh Spearmint leaves
2 oz London dry gin
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
¾ oz Ginger syrup
2 oz. Ginger ale
Muddle the mint in a highball glass, then add the remaining ingredients, add ice, stir and garnish with a Spearmint sprig.

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•Cocktails with Spearmint Include The famous ‘Mint julep” from Kentucky that you have to drink in May at the start of the Kentucky Derby – except maybe, in 2020, when we are all ‘sheltering in place’ because of the COVID-19 Virus. The Kentucky Derby has been run continuously since 1875 and only postponed once.

•Here is a recipe for a Brazilian Cachaca Julep. 2 ½ parts Cachaca, ¾ parts whiskey or Southern Comfort which was beloved by Janis Joplin, ¾ parts sugar syrup, ¾ parts lime juice and 6 pieces fresh Spearmint leaves added at the end. Add ice to the shaker and then all of the ingredients, shake well. Strain into a tall glass and garnish with the Spearmint. I also like to mash some of the Spearmint with the sugar syrup first.

a drink called the Brazilian Mint Julepwith cachaca — Brazilian Mint Julep with cachaca. *Fig. 9*

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•Herb and flower kinds of butter are a delicious and easy way to add flavor to foods. Herb butters are simply freshly picked herbs that are finely chopped and blended into sweet (unsalted) butter, mixing it thoroughly and then refrigerating so that the flavor and scent permeate the butter. You must contain them in a glass jar or Pyrex container so that the scents of the fridge do not permeate the delicate scent and flavor of the butters. Also, label it so you will remember one from the other. These butters are delicious on vegetables or spread upon toast or crackers. They are necessary when having a tea party. They have not been widely used since Victorian times and may have simply dropped out of fashion…
In most cases, fresh herbs are preferable to dried herbs and flowers. Mashed dried seeds such as Anise seed are also used. And margarine will not do, you must use good sweet butter. Finely chop the fresh herbs or flowers and then mash them into the butter, cream your herbs or flowers into the softened butter with a fork or back of a wooden spoon. Two tablespoons of herb part for every quarter-pound stick of butter. Add just a touch of Lemon juice or white wine vinegar to bring up the flavor of the herb and refrigerate overnight to allow fully flavor to develop. Spearmint butter is good with meats such as lamb and on cookies and pastries. —The Herbal Guide to Food.

•Spearmint jelly is really delicious. I used to make it whenever we had lamb for dinner. I have a very simple recipe in my Herbal Guide to Food, p. 216. It only says mint, but I can assure you I was discussing Spearmint. When I wrote this book, I was not as particular as I am now about the name of which mint, I was discussing.

KEY USE ~ Dentifrice products and as an antidepressant.

RESOURCES ~ There are many herb stores, nurseries, home product-makers, skincare companies that make and use Spearmint. When you look at the label make sure the mint, they mention is Spearmint, Mentha spicata, for that sweet and joyous herb that we all enjoy so much.

This illustration of types of mint is by Annetta Gunter and comes from the book, Kitchen Cosmetics, by Jeanne Rose. — **This illustration by Annetta Gunter comes from Kitchen Cosmetics**
By Jeanne Rose. *Fig. 10*

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SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

Influence of Drying on the Flavor Quality of Spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) • M. Consuelo Díaz-Maroto, M. Soledad Pérez-Coello, M. A. González Viñas, M. Dolores Cabezudo • Cite this: J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003, 51, 5, 1265-1269; Publication Date: January 22, 2003 • https://doi.org/10.1021/jf020805l • Copyright © 2003 American Chemical Society
Abstract. Spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) was dried using three different drying methods: oven-drying at 45 °C, air-drying at ambient temperature, and freeze-drying. The effect of the drying method on the volatile compounds and on the structural integrity and sensory characteristics of the spice was evaluated. The volatile components from fresh and dried spearmint samples were isolated by simultaneous distillation−extraction (SDE) and analyzed by gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 28 compounds were identified, carvone, limonene, and 1,8-cineole, in that order, being the main components in all of the samples. Oven-drying at 45 °C and air-drying at ambient temperature were the methods that produced the best results. An increase in monoterpenes was observed in all of the dried samples, except in the freeze-dried samples that underwent freezing at −198 °C. Freeze-drying resulted in substantial losses in oxygenated terpenes and sesquiterpenes. The effect of each drying method on leaf structure was observed by scanning electron microscopy. From a sensory standpoint, drying the spearmint brought about a decrease in herbaceous and floral notes together with an increase in minty odor.
Keywords: Mentha spicata L.; spearmint; drying; volatile compounds

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Abstract/Scientific Data: Inhibition by the essential oils of peppermint and spearmint of the growth of pathogenic bacteria. H. Imai, K. Osawa, H. Yasuda, H. Hamashima, T. Arai and M. Sasatsu … The effects of the, essential oils of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.), spearmint Mentha spicata L.) and Japanese menthol mint (Mentha arvensis L.), of four major constituents of the essential oil of peppermint, and of three major constituents of the essential oil of spearmint, on the proliferation of Helicobacter pylori, Salmonella enteritidis, Escherichia coli O157:H7, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) were examined. The essential oils and the various constituents inhibited the proliferation of each strain in liquid culture in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, they exhibited bactericidal activity in phosphate-buffered saline. The antibacterial activities varied among the bacterial species tested but were almost the same against antibiotic-resistant and antibiotic-sensitive strains of Helicobacter pylori and S. aureus. Thus, the essential oils and their constituents may be useful as potential antibacterial agents for inhibition of the growth of pathogens.

REFERENCES ~

¹https://doi.org/10.1016/0896-8446(92)90002-2 • Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of peppermint and spearmint
²Staff of L. H. Bailey Hortorium • Hortus Third • Macmillan Publishing. 1976
³Plinie’s Natural History First Century AD. Translated by Philemon Holland.
⁴The Mint Family – Uses of Mints ~ Mints are not Just for After Dinner By Linda L. Hein with additions by Jeanne Rose
⁵Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Vol III, p. 679. Krieger Publishing. 1974
⁶https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6274304/
⁷https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10826070600674893?src=recsys
⁸https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00217-003-0802-4
⁹http://geo.msu.edu/extra/geogmich/mint.html
¹⁰https://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0015/ea0015p282 (there are many articles about hirsutism and Spearmint tea)

Landing, James E. American Essence, A History of Mint in the United States. Kalamazoo Public Museum. 1969

Mojay, Gabriel. Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1999.

Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999

Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California:

Rose, Jeanne. Herbal Guide to Food. 1989. Available from /books.html

Rose, Jeanne. Kitchen Cosmetics. 1978. Available from /books.html

Rose, Jeanne. . 2000. Available from /books.html

Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992.

Worwood, Susan & Valerie Ann. essential aromatherapy, a pocket guide … Novato, California: New World Library, 2003.

MINT LIMERICK
Crick Crack, crick crack Crunch
I like some Spearmint in my lunch
A little green
So very clean
I’ll also have it at my brunch. …JeanneRose2013

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

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Fig. 12 – beautiful Spearmint

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Moderation in All Things.
Be moderate in your use of essential oils as they are just not sustainable for the environment. Be selective and more moderate in your usage. Use the herb first as a tea or the infusion. —JeanneRose 2014

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CEDARWOOD

Mar20

Cedar is an ancient tree that has been used by generations of humans for physical, emotional and ritual/meditative uses. It has been confused with an American Juniper tree. Learn more.

By Jeanne Rose ~ March 2020

A true Cedar (Cedrus atlantica), tree in the SF Botanical Garden — **Cedar (****Cedrus atlantica) tree in the SF Botanical Garden – fig.1**

CEDARWOOD of (ATLAS) PROFILE

CEDAR is a common name used for several different trees from two totally different families of trees. Both family Pinaceæ and family Cupressaceæ are in the Coniferae Order of plants. Here we encounter the confusion that common names create. There are many types of Cedar trees: true Cedars from the Genus Cedrus and other trees which are actually from other genera yet also have the common name of Cedar. True Cedar, only of the Genera Cedrus, and only from the Pinaceae family is the one I want to discuss. These are different and the differences are consequential.

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COMMON NAME/LATIN BINOMIAL ~ Cedarwood (Cedrus spp).The genus Cedrus is the true cedar tree from the Pinaceae family. Most of the trees that people call Cedar are actually not and from the Cupressaceae family with names like Juniper (Juniperus virginiana) or Eastern red-cedar. (the hyphen is there to let you know that it isn’t really a Cedar tree).

There are some trees from the Cupressaceæ family which are called Cedars but when you look at their Latin binomials you will see that they are actually a Juniper or Thuja.

True Cedars from family Pinaceæ include Atlas Cedarwood (Cedrus atlantica var. libani), Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara), Cyprus Cedar (Cedrus brevifolia ), and Lebanon Cedarwood (Cedrus libani).

From family Cupressaceæ: Port Orford-Cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), Hinoki-Cedar (Chamaecyparis obtusa), Virginia-Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Texas-Cedar (Juniperus ashei), and others from the Juniper clan of this group of trees. Remember, the trees called Cedar from the Cupressaceæ family are NOT true Cedars. I recommend, again, remember plants and their essential oils by their Latin binomial. There are also Pine trees and other types of trees incorrectly called “Cedar” trees. Know what you want and learn their correct names. https://jeanne-blog.com/re-cedar-wood-virginia/

This way, you will know for sure from which plant your oil comes.

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An explanatory paragraph explaining the difference between Cedrus of the bible and the Juniper — **Cedar vs cedar**

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True Atlas Cedar branches – photo by JeanneRose — **true Atlas Cedar branches – photo by Jeanne Rose – fig. 2**

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Another point to be aware of when using Cedar oils is whether you are using the oil of the leaf or the wood. Awareness of the part of the plant the oil is coming from is just as important as awareness of which Cedar the oil is coming from. If an oil is simply labeled Cedar, how are you to know what this oil is and how it can be used safely? All essential oils should be labeled with their Latin binomial, common name, country of origin and part of the plant used. If you look at your collection of essential oils at home or in stores, you will see that this is rarely the case.

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—A FEARLESS JEANNEROSE TOMATO TALE ABOUT THE NAME OF CEDAR —

Fifty years ago, when I first started collecting the historical books of plants (herbs and aromatics), I was put off by so many books that had the names and history of plants just plain wrong. As a science major at college (1954-1959), I was educated by and the assistant of a botanist who was a stickler in the use of correct Latin binomials and the history of each plant. He said, “you don’t need to pronounce the name correctly, but you do need to spell it correctly”. The Latin names are the same all over the world.

One of the first books I obtained was a first-edition book, dated 1951, that stated the trees that were used to build the temple of Solomon in ancient Jerusalem was the American Cedarwood named Juniperus virginiana. Well, anyone with a lick of sense knows that the Temple of Solomon was built around 1000 B.C.E. (before the common era) in the Middle East and that the tree called Juniperus virginiana is a species of Juniper indigenous to and native to eastern North America and was not named or identified or found until the early 1600s. (Yes, the Native Americans of the area used this tree, but these are not the people of Solomon’s era.) I discarded that book immediately and cannot even remember its name. But I also saw this same misinformation that “Cedrus species is a North American tree…of the family Cupressaceae” in one of our modern books on aromatherapy, published in 1995 by two well-known teachers of aromatherapy.

In 1972, I had also started collecting the true ancient rare historical books, including a copy of Gerard’s Herbal from 1632 and a copy of Plinie’s Herbal published in 1601. These I used to give me a real background and a good grounding in the aromatic plants and herbs that were to eventually make-up my life’s work.

I enjoy taxonomy now, although not so much back in 1957. Names are important and you should know the names of the plants that you use, just like you should know the names of the friends that you love. You wouldn’t call every female you know, ‘sis’ – would you? So, don’t go calling all the trees cedar either.

2 photos - on the left is branch of true Cedar and on the right is branch of Eastern red-cedar. Note the hyphen meaning they are different. — **Fig. 3**

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BOTANICAL NAME AND FAMILY OF THE TRUE CEDAR ~ Cedrus spp. of the family Pinaceae.

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CEDAR (ATLAS) & COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN ~ Morocco and Algeria. This lovely tree now is grown in many countries and does well in any Mediterranean climate. It is planted as an ornamental tree. There is an attractive stand in San Francisco’s Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park as well as a row of true Cedars leading to the State Capitol of California.

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HARVEST LOCATION of ATLAS CEDAR FROM EDEN BOTANICALS ~ The harvest season for Atlas Cedar is March and the areas of harvest are Morocco, and the Himalayas.

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ATLAS CEDAR • GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PLANT, HABITAT & GROWTH ~ An evergreen conifer tree with wide branches tapering to a height of 50 feet. The branches are covered with long needles, having barrel-shaped cones upright on the branches. The Cedrus Genera has needles arranged singly on growing shoots in tufts often called “whorls”. There are often 10-20 needles arranged in one tuft. The Cedrus Genera have upright cones like the Abies, but the cones disintegrate after two years.

Some of the cedars in Lebanon, Cedrus libani, however, are up to 140 feet and are said to be over 1,000 years old. One of the ten Deodar Cedars that were planted in 1872, that line the west side of the California Capitol, is the largest of its species (Cedrus deodara) in California. It measures 98 feet high, with a trunk circumference of 228 inches (19 feet) and a crown spread of 85 feet. It is drought tolerant.

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Resinous cones of Cedrus spp. – photo by Jeanne Rose Fig. 4

PORTION OF CEDAR TREE USED IN DISTILLATION, HOW DISTILLED, EXTRACTION METHODS & YIELD: The wood and stumps or sawdust is steam distilled. It is on occasion solvent-extracted to produce a concrète which is considered to be a true-to-nature scent.

Yield ~ 3-5%.

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SUSTAINABILITY ~ There is a decline of the Cedar forest attributable to human activities such as overgrazing, over-harvesting and illegal logging. These are having far-reaching implications for forest conservation management. This tree is considered to be endangered but not restricted.

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Essential oil and branch and cones of *Cedrus atlantica – fig. 5*

The organoleptic characteristics of an Atlas Cedar discussing the essential oil color, clarity, viscosity, intensity of odor and tenacity in a perfume or blend.

Cedar species organoleptics of color, clarity, viscosity, intensity of odor and tenacity in a blend

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Cedar ODOR DESCRIPTION/AROMA ASSESSMENT ~ I use a simple Vocabulary of Odor© to describe the odor of essential oils. It is easy to learn and very helpful in the study of these products of distillation. I also have an Advanced Vocabulary of Odor© that is more complex but gives you a snapshot of the scent. [see the end of article] So it always surprises me when someone can’t seem to use descriptive words to describe an odor and resorts to poetical uses. Poetry is beautiful but it is not helpful in describing an odor. The Perfume Album by Jessee describes one odor thusly, “It taxes vocabulary and imagination to describe adequately the precise character of the fragrance.” I find this description very unhelpful. It really doesn’t do this plant or essential oil justice.

The description of the scent of the genus Cedrus, Atlas and the others is floral, fruity and woody, with back notes of honey and spice. Compare this with the smoky, woody, conifer and fruity odor of Virginia cedar that everyone confuses with the lovely Atlas Cedar and you will see a remarkable difference. The scent snapshot comparison is at the end of this article and will show you two totally different odors that look like different ‘mountain’ ranges.

5 essential oils: the first two are genus Juniperus while that three on the right are the genus Cedrus. — Essential oils courtesy of Eden Botanicals. *fig. 6*

CHEMICAL COMPONENTS of the true Cedar ~ Alpha and Beta Cedrene, Cedrol, Atlantone, Carophyllene, and Cadinene and the other so-called Cedar, the Juniperus virginiana contain thujopsene and cedrene. These last named “cedar-woods” are used as a commercial source of thujone and hinokitol and are very different from the true Cedrus species.

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HISTORICAL USES ~ The essential oil was and is used in the perfumery, was used in mummification and to repel vermin, although now the Virginia Cedar is better for the vermin part.

“The Temple of Solomon, begun by David, was made entirely of Cedrus deodara, and a quarter of a million men were used to plunder the great forests of the Lebanon to satisfy the needs of the builder. Objects of this Cedar retain their fragrance after 3000 years.”¹

GENERAL PROPERTIES

The general Properties of Atlas Cedar are by IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application. If you inhale the oil it is a tonic to the respiratory system. If you apply the oil it is considered to be an antiseptic, fungicide, and tonic, a stimulus to arterial regeneration, it helps the lymphatics as a tonic, is anti-seborrheic, and regenerative for the skin and scalp. There is no reason or use for ingestion although one source suggested that it would be useful with Sandalwood for urinary infections.

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Properties and Uses ~ Cedar leaf oils, if available, are in general used externally, well diluted for skin conditions and dandruff, fungal infections and hair loss, and inhaled in blends for the respiratory system. Cedar wood oils because they mostly come from the wood are confused with other trees with the same common name and thought to be contraindicated for people who are prone to high blood pressure and heart problems and should be avoided by people with sensitive skin. However, this may be because of the common name confusion with other genera. But true Cedar oils are normally not a problem.

Oil from the wood of Cedrus atlantica, Atlas Cedar, from the Pinaceæ family contains up to 80% Sesquiterpenes and Sesquiterpenols. Its properties are tonic to the body. It is useful in blends for external application as it aids in the removal of body fat and is used externally for cellulite and the retention of fluid in the tissue . Atlas Cedar is a good oil for the medicine chest because it is used for the respiratory system; a single drop in a half cup water to gargle for sore throat; or with two drops of Eucalyptus in a steaming bowl of water to reduce nasal and lung congestion. This would be a good oil to use in a home-made vapor salve, for relief of lung and nasal congestion. It can be added to shampoos or facial washes to reduce oily secretions and has an excellent scent for the hair and face. It is also used as a fixative in the perfume industry where it adds a lovely fruity wood note.

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Cedar Application/Skincare ~ It is used for the retention of fluid in the tissue (edema), cellulite reduction, and in skin care for reducing oily secretions. It is also used for cleansing, as a general tonic in blends for acne, rheumatism, cystitis, and scalp disorder.

A variety of formulas using Cedrus spp. oil for skin and scalp care. Fig. 7

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Hair Care

            Alopecia Study – 1999 ~ Arch Dermatol. 1998 Nov;134 (11):1349-52 Randomized trial of aromatherapy. Successful treatment for alopecia areata. By Hay IC, Jamieson M, Ormerod AD. Source – Department of Dermatology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill, Scotland. ad.ormerod@abdn.ac.uk
            ABSTRACT:      Instructions in essential oil use and scalp massage were given to 84 patients with Alopecia areata, a disorder in which the hair falls out in patches producing areas of baldness. Randomly divided into two groups, the control group massaged a combination of jojoba and grapeseed carrier oils into their scalps every night, occluding the area with a warm towel.
       The test group used the same technique but included a blend of the following essential oils
Thymus vulgaris (88 mg), [no chemotype given] (antibacterial & antifungal)
Lavandula angustifolia (108 mg), (soothing)
Rosmarinus officinalis cineole (114 mg) (healing, growth, & tonic) and
Cedrus atlantica (94 mg) essential oils
with 23 ml of carrier oil (Jojoba would be valuable here).
This procedure was followed for seven months and evaluated by various means, including photographic assessment by independent dermatologists and measurement of areas of alopecia by computerized image analysis. Although variable, the test group results showed a significant statistical advantage to the treatment regime with an improvement rate of 44%. This was comparable to conventional therapies. As it had no significant adverse effects, the essential oil treatment had a higher therapeutic ratio than some therapies. A relative lack of response in the control group indicated pharmacological activity of the essential oils as opposed to any effects arising from scalp massage alone.            CONCLUSIONS of Alopecia study: The results show aromatherapy to be a safe and effective treatment for alopecia areata. Treatment with these essential oils was significantly more effective than treatment with the carrier oil alone (P = .008 for the primary outcome measure). We also successfully applied an evidence-based method to an alternative therapy.

JEANNE ROSE FAVORITE FORMULA FOR GENERAL HAIR CARE.
Scalp Conditioner & Hair Growth
From 1969 and 2008 updated

30% Rosemary verbenone
25% Atlas Cedar
20% Rose Absolute
20% ancient Frankincense
Add an equal amount of 95% neutral grape spirits or a combination of Walnut and Jojoba oil. Mix this all together. Put into a spray or drop bottle. Label the bottle. Spray or drop a few drops once a day onto the scalp to condition the scalp. Massage in with your fingertips.
Smells resinous and sharp. The Rose absolute scent is lost. But adds a deep richness. This blend conditions the scalp and gets rid of any lingering yeast and fungus like Malassezia that feeds on oils on the scalps of most adults.

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Atlas Cedar Limerick
There was a young man from Natchez,
Whose head was balding in patches.
He used Atlas Cedar for sure,
And Rosemary that was pure
And now he no longer scratches. —JeanneRose2012

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CEDAR OIL EMOTIONAL/Energetic/Ritual Use ~ (AP OR IN) ~ Inhale this oil for protection, calming, anxiety and grounding. Use in blends for the same conditions. This is a scent that is revered in meditative practices.

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ Cedarwood is used by application and inhalation for chest infections and asthma and to add a pleasant woody fragrance to the air.

CULINARY/HERBAL USE ~ I know of no culinary uses for needles or wood of Cedrus spp. and herbally if I had a tree available, I would certainly distill all parts for the hydrosol and also use them as an infusion or decoction in my bath and to use as a facial spray.

Cedar sawdust baths are very healthful for the skin. In this case, either the Juniper-Cedar or the true Cedar can be used depending upon what is available.

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‘Cedar’-rice bran baths at Osmosis on Sonoma Coast – fig .8

BLENDS & PERFUMERY with Atlas Cedar ~ The Atlas Cedar oil and other true Cedar oils are widely used in blends and perfumery as a base note or as a fixative for floral odors. It blends beautifully with florals, woody-florals and the rich, tenacious, intense odor of Labdanum with its sweetness, smoky-woody, leather and powder notes. https://jeanne-blog.com/labdanum-cistus-resin-eo-hydrosol-profile/

Cedar oils blend well ~ with all florals, herbal scents, citrus scents, and roots and woods. It is a fantastic fixative in perfumery. Often used in masculine perfumery for its deep woody and floral, fruity odor.

SPRING — FLORAL & WOODS PERFUME
Head – 20 drops of Bulgarian Rose and Bergamot. I like to use more Bergamot than Rose.
Heart –20 drops of Egyptian Geranium and Ylang-Ylang Extra
Base – 20 drops of Atlas Cedar and Haitian Vetivert
Fixative – 5 drops of anything woodsy that you have
Total is 65 drops.

Succuss together vigorously. Add your carrier, I prefer neutral grape spirits, about 130 drops to make a 33% perfume formula. Succuss again. Label carefully. Put aside to age and meld for 10 days. Use with pleasure.

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Pharaoh’s Limerick
Atlas Cedar is more like a Pine
With needles so pretty and fine
Use as a scent
To the tombs, you’ll be sent
And be invited by Pharaoh to dine.

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HYDROSOL ~ I have not had the pleasure to use the hydrosol of either the cones, needles or wood of any species of the true Cedar.

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**Cones and needles** **of Cedrus atlantica var. glauca –** **Cedar ~ Golden Gate Par**k. *fig. 9*

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INTERESTING INFORMATION ~ The Cedar tree was used by other ancient cultures for sarcophagi and palace and temple material. Sometimes called ‘satinwood’. The Latin name means ‘Atlas Cedar’, that is, the tree growing in the Atlas Mountains that span Morocco and Algeria. Different species of cedars are found all over the world. [in the book, essential aromatherapy, p. 122, there is a sentence that says, “Native Americans use the cedar as medicine and burn it for purification”,” and this is woefully incorrect as this book is confusing American ‘cedar’ Juniperus virginiana with the true Cedar, Cedrus spp.].

Roy Genders in Scented Flora of the World, states that “Cedrus deodara did not reach Britain until 1731 and that it is as hardy there as it is in its native habitat. It is a beautiful pyramidal-shaped tree with gracefully drooping branches that often reach to the ground. … The wood is precious, extremely durable and its fragrance transcends that of other woods”.

In my own experience, the needles and wood are only very lightly scented, and the wood has to be distilled or cooked and macerated to obtain that wonderful woody, floral and fruity scent.

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CONTRAINDICATIONS ~ There are no known contraindications to the use of the Cedars; Atlas, Lebanon or Deodar.

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SAFETY PRECAUTIONS ~ Be certain that you’re not using Juniperus virginiana, also called “Cedar-wood”. Both oils are used in repelling vermin in the storage of valuables, and the oils should not directly touch the garments. Cedrus atlantica is a true cedar, whereas Juniperus virginiana contains mostly Cederene. Even though they have the same common name, and although they both repel vermin, they are not used identically otherwise. So, be absolutely certain of which oil you are using.

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5 bottles of Cedar oil, both the darker Juniper and the true Cedar on the right. — **Beautiful essential oils – see true Cedar oils on the right.** **fig.10**

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KEY USE~ Respiratory disorders, hair care, and perfumery.

Safety Precautions fig. 11

References:
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Arctander. 1960
Britton, Lord, and Hon. Addison Brown • An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Vol. II • (New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1970.)
Franchomme, P. and Pénoël, Docteur D • L’Aromatherapie Exactement • (Limoges, France: Roger Jollois Editeur, 1990.)
¹Genders, Roy. Scented Flora of the World. St. Martins Press. 1977
Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal: the …Properties, …with their Uses. Brace & Company, Harcourt, 1931
Guenther, Ernest, Ph.D. • The Essential Oils • (Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Co. 1976) (original ed 1952.) (in VI volumes)
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Mojay, Gabriel. Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1999 Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California
Sudworth, George B. • Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope • (New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1967.)
Tutin, Heywood, Burgers, Moore, Valentine, Walters and Webb, Editors • Flora Europaea, Vol 4 • (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1976.)
Worwood, Susan & Valerie Ann. Essential aromatherapy, a pocket guide. Novato, CA: New World Library, 2003.

Scent Snapshots of Cedar-Cedar Odor — Cedar-Cedar Odor Snapshot. Using Jeanne Rose Circular Vocabulary of Odor. *fig. 12*

A chart of what the scent of Virginia Cedar and Atlas Cedar look like, called "Mountain Ranges" - using the Vertical Vocabulary of Odor. — **“Mountain Ranges” — what the scent looks like using the Vertical Vocabulary of Odor.** **fig. 13**

~ JR ~

BLUE OILS — pt 2

Feb17

By Jeanne Rose ~ February MMXX

Synopsis ~ the blue oils are nine or more essential oils from several botanical groups that when distilled produce a blue-colored oil. They are all anti-inflammatory and very-helpful to skin health.

Many thanks to Eden Botanicals for supplying these lovely oils to photograph – Jeanne Rose photo

Part 2 includes properties, uses, how to use the oil, chemistry, Blue oil tomato tales, history, references, precautions, blending and formulas for health and well-being.

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Part 1 included naming, botany, taxonomy, and organoleptics.

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WHY DO WE CALL THEM THE ‘BLUE OILS’ ~ We call them ‘blue oils’ because they are blue in color. Yes, essential oils have color. These colors include a pale sky blue such as in Roman Chamomile although it seems to quickly lose that color), the cobalt–colored Blue Sage (Artemisia douglasiana) or the navy-colored oils such as Blue Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) and azure-blue Blue Tansy (Tanacetum annuum) and the viscous indigo-colored oil from Blue Artemis (Artemisia arborescens) and sapphire-Blue Cypress (Callitris intratropica). Some of these plants are related and some are not.

The molecule called azulene is a dark blue color. It is composed of two terpenoids; vetivazulene a derivative of Vetivert and guaiazulene (also called azulon) mainly from guaiac and chamomile oil. This molecule is also found in some of the pigments of mushrooms, plants like guaiac wood oil and also in marine invertebrates, such as jellyfish and corals. Azulenes, although usually shades of blue, can also be green, violet, blue/violet, and red/violet. It is a brilliant rainbow of color due to its chemical structure. ¹²

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HISTORICAL USES ~ Historically, the Noble Chamomile called the Roman Chamomile, is often a double flower. It was grown interspersed with lawn plants as a ground cover that provided fragrance when being walked upon. Wet laundry, especially sheets were laid down on this fragrant cover plant, to dry, and while drying, to pick up the sweet apple-scent of the plants. In the past when I could grow large amounts of this plant, I have been able to place my clean washed cashmere sweaters out to dry and they would come back to me with the calming scent of chamomile.

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INTERESTING FACTS ~ “It has been demonstrated that sensory perception has an impact on aging in species that are unconnected by millions of years through evolution. This suggests that comparable effects might be seen in human beings as well. For human beings, it might not be the smell…. it might be our perception of danger or food. In this case, a smart program where we control our perceptions might form the foundation of an easy yet powerful program to prevent disease and promote healthy aging.” from AntiAging Forum.
OUR sensory perceptions include — these perceptions include what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste and what we feel. The five senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

THE BEAUTIFUL COLORS AND USES OF THE BLUE OILS.

A chart of the blue oils showing the shades of different blue-colored oils — Fig. 2

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There are two major varieties of Chamomile that are used as herbal home remedies and for essential oils: Chamaemelum nobile or Anthemis nobilis, also known as Roman or English chamomile, and Matricaria chamomilla, also known as German or Hungarian chamomile. Today, they are two of the most widely used medicinal herbs in the world.

These two close herbal relatives are different plants of the same plant family – Asteraceae [Compositae]. Both varieties have an aromatic scent and bear small, daisy-like blossoms that are about one inch in diameter. They have similar properties, and many herbalists use them interchangeably in herbal remedies. However, they do have some distinct differences, and one is a perennial, while the other is an annual.

The one that is often most desired as a fragrant lawn substitute is the perennial double Chamomile of Chamaemelum nobile ‘Flore Pleno’. This is an old selection that is been in use for hundreds of years. It forms a low evergreen mat with ferny leaves and fluffy white flowers in early summer. The flowers can be dried and used for tea or mowed, dried and used for fragrant potpourri.

Double ‘Flore Pleno perennial Chamomile
fig. 3

GENERAL PROPERTIES OF THE BLUE OILS

The main property of any of the blue oils is as an anti-inflammatory, to control inflammation, usually of the skin and on some occasions, when taken internally, to control inner inflammation.

Use them by AP=application, IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation.

Application:

•Roman chamomile oil is used as a tea for its internal as well as external properties, as an antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and to relieve gastro-intestinal associations of distress. Both the flowers and the essential oil is used in skincare as an anti-inflammatory and Shirley Price has said that it is the best of all essential oils to use.

Ingestion:

•Blue Sage Tea (Artemisia douglasiana) “has been shown to help decrease the ill effects of lipid peroxides (rancid fats) on the liver. In dealing with the American diet and our strange reliance on processed foods, you must remember that fat and oil preservatives and antioxidants don’t change the existing rancidity, they just prevent more from happening and your finely tuned nose from detecting what has already happened.” (Moore, Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West 20).

•It is the Blue Tansy EO (Tanacetum annuum) with Ammi visnaga, which is used in capsules to treat wheezing and asthma. There are three excellent formulas for these issues at the end of my article on asthma. See http:///articles/asthma_bronchitis.html

Inhalation:

•The blue oils have many uses in blends and are used via inhalation or in the blends used in inhalers. Roman Chamomile is most easily obtainable and can be used in an inhaler, salt inhaler, mixed with Eucalyptus radiata and rubbed on the chest for inhalation uses to relieve the breathing.

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PHYSICAL USES & HOW USED (IG OR AP)

APPLICATION ~ The blue oils with the component of azulene are anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antibacterial and especially the chamomiles and blue Cypress are considered as being exceptional plants and oil in the skincare.

• Blue Chamomile CO₂from Matricaria chamomilla CO₂is a dark greenish-brown, an opaque, thick and viscous product of carbon dioxide extraction. It retains more of the natural floral odor of the flower and is a strong anti-inflammatory when added to any skincare product. Use it by taking a bit and working it well into some of your skin cream or lotion and then add more lotion until all is incorporated. In commercial products when Chamomile CO₂is used it is normally around 0.2±% of the total.

CO₂extracts are closer in composition to the oil as it occurs in the plant and has better solubility in the product. A wonderful fruity-scented healing addition to any skincare application.

German Chamomile CO₂ – EO ~ Color and Viscosity Fig. 4

• Blue Chamomile EO from Matricaria chamomilla is mentioned in P. Davis book, “use of German Blue Chamomile can be especially helpful where skin conditions may be aggravated by stress, and indeed where stress may be the underlying cause.” The two key constituents, (-)-alpha-bisabolol and chamazulene both of which are anti-inflammatory, account for 50-65 percent of total volatile oil content.

The Benefits of Azulene in Chamomile Essential Oil. The use of chamomile is increasing as the knowledge of azulene (chamazulene) grows. Azulene occurs in significant amounts in Matricaria chamomilla, (Matricaria recutita) and the use of this herb has surpassed even its cousin Roman Chamomile as the essential oil to use for skincare. Azulene and bisabolol are both in the GCMS of the deep blue essential oil. Both are powerfully anti-inflammatory. ”In one study on albino rats, German Chamomile was found to heal wound burning significantly compared to topical olive oil. Bisabolol itself has been studied and shown to be non-toxic and non-sensitizing, even when taken internally in large doses. The bisabolol offers rosacea sufferers an opportunity to alleviate itching and irritation, but azulene also goes a long way towards reducing rosacea’s redness by soothing inflamed capillaries.”

• Roman chamomile tea and EO –  The herb tea is anti-allergenic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, bitter tonic tea, carminative tea, digestive tea, emmenagogue tea (promotes menstrual flow), nervine, sedative-calming, and stomachic.  The EO is inhaled for asthma, used orally and is best for all uses.

Roman chamomile EO is insoluble in glycerin. “Upon exposure to air and light and on prolonged standing the light blue color of the oil changes first to green and later to yellow-brown. This oil presents one of the highest ester value of all essential oils, from 272 to 293.5” World of Aromatherapy, p. 203. Esters are used in skincare.

Roman chamomile has little chamazulene, and thus has gentler anti-inflammatory properties. It also has a higher alcohol content than its German Chamomile. It is the better choice for skin conditions and other topical applications. It is used in skin diseases, acne, chilblains (painful inflamed skin patches from the cold), and all skin irritations, applied as a compress for menstrual problems, neuritis (pins and needles in the limbs), neuralgia (sharp nerve pain), surgical intervention and pain relief, and used in perfumery. I have used in massage blends for relaxation. Rub a bit on the gums for teething pain.

• Achillea millefolium – Yarrow tea is aromatic, bitter, astringent, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, it relieves indigestion, increases perspiration; the herb tea is drunk or the EO is applied for feverish illnesses like colds, measles, and influenza; also, for cuts, bruises, ulcerous skin sores, hemorrhages, varicose veins, headaches, hypertension. The essential oils and hydrosol can be used directly on the skin for burns or scalds.

The scent of the essential oil is herbal and woody, and it is used externally for muscular aches and pains or in skincare for severe rashes and wounds that are difficult to heal. The herbal tea is used in skincare as well. Yarrow is used reducing the look of varicose veins and reduce scars. For formulas for hemorrhoids and varicose veins see http:///articles/varicose_veins.html

•

Two bottles of Blue Tansy, Tanacetum annuum — Fig. 5 … Blue Tansy EO

• Tanacetum annuum-Blue Tansy EO uses ~ Active principles include monoterpenes with limonene as a major component, sesquiterpenes of chamazulene up to 30% and dihydrochamazulene. “The properties are anti-inflammatory, antihistamine when taken with Ammi visnaga, anti-itch, pain-relieving, soothing to the nerves when the plant oil is inhaled, hypotensive, possibly thymus stimulating and hormone-like.

I have used it in capsules for asthmatic crises (as it supplies a theophylline-type component which is a bronchodilator) along with Ammi visnaga), emphysema; in blends for irritating skin problems in adults, abnormal reddening of the skin and couperose skin problems, in skincare, arthritis, neuritis, sciatica, muscular rheumatism, hypertension, and varicose veins. Contra-indications: among certain women with endocrine imbalances.”⁷

Tanacetum annuum chemistry. Chemical Composition and Antifungal Properties of the Essential Oil of Tanacetum annuum in Blue tansy, aka Moroccan Tansy. Shoot oil of Tanacetum annuum was examined by GC and GC/MS and found to contain sabinene (22.3%) and camphor (13.2%) as major constituents. This oil was screened for its antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea, Helminthosporium oryzae, Alternaria solani, Piricularia oryzae and Verticillium dahliae. T. annuum oil exhibited the strongest fungitoxicity by completely inhibiting the mycelial growth of each of the fungi at 5000 ppm…. J. Essent. oil Tes., 12, 122-124 (Jan/Feb 2000).

• Blue Cypress (Callitris intratropica) is considered an all-around first-aid remedy in the same way that Tea tree oil is used. And it has a considerably more pleasant odor.

• Artemisia arborescens – Blue Artemis used in salves and lotions is very effective for all sorts of skincare issues. Eatwell Farm makes a fabulous salve with the herbs they grow.

Jars of salve made of Artemisia arborescens and Lavender grown on Eatwell Farm — Fig. 6

EMOTIONAL/ENERGETIC USES (AP OR IN):
Inhalation of Roman Chamomile – Nervous tics, asthma, insomnia, headache, depression, and nervousness. It is very useful for hysteria, anger and child tantrums.

•

A MINOR CHAMOMILE TOMATO TALE

Years ago, when my boy was about 8 years old, we were all gathered together around the dining room table, friends and family, having a glass of wine and chatting. We live in the city and up two flights of stairs from the street. The boys, my son and his friend were on their BMX bikes riding up and down the length of the hall and creating a tremendous cacophony. It was very noisy. I quietly got up, put some Roman Chamomile into a diffuser, aimed the nozzle towards the hall and diffused this essential oil into the atmosphere. It was only minutes before the noise died off and quiet reigned in the house. Too quiet, actually. I got up and went into the bedroom and now the boys were having a great time smoothing Vaseline into their hair and trying to get it to stand up in greasy peaks for that fashionable punk look. My son was laughing and enjoying the mess. Getting that Vaseline out-of-the-hair is another story.

•

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ Use these rare blue oils in moderation. If the herb works, use that first before the essential oil. They can be blended with just about any selection of oil to suit your purposes. I have a favorite at my desk of Eucalyptus smithii + Chamaemelum nobile in a small bottle that I use to inhale periodically when I am working at the computer.

EMOTIONAL/RITUAL USE ~ Many sources list a litany of magical and spiritual traditions for the Roman Chamomile. These sources list its use in spells for peace, love, tranquility, and purification. Teddy Fearnhamm, an aromatherapy teacher says, “a cascade of Roman Chamomile and you immediately feel loved”. In ritual, it is used to instill stillness, become spiritually aware, give inner peace and to become emotionally stable. These are all attributes we can use.

•

BLENDING ~ The Chamomiles can be blended with just about any herb or citrus or wood or resin. It works well with flowers, barks, and spices. Arctander states that Roman Chamomile is used as a trace additive [and] imparts a warm, yet fresh note and a natural depth which is difficult to obtain by other means.

•Blue Chamomile is used in very small amounts to give a soft blue note to blends and perfumes and warmth and softness to the scent.

•Use Blue Tansy in moderation, it has better uses than being an addition to a perfume or diffusion blend.

•Blue Cypress added to a perfume or blend, does some miraculous scent-changing. I found it excellent to alter the slight fishy scent of the Australian Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) when I was making deodorant. I have experimented with this oil and found a simple and easy Deodorant formula. First, I add 5% Blue Cypress to the Sandalwood oil. This deepens the scent and gives it an invisible deeper woody odor. Then I add 95% neutral grape spirits to 5-10% of the essential oils. And don’t worry about the alcohol in the formula. You only use a short spray under each armpit (less than a drop), the Sandalwood plus the alcohol kills the odor-causing bacteria. [The organism that is apparent in human body odor, Corynebacterium xerosis is strongly inhibited by Australian Sandalwood and thus would be useful in deodorant formulas. With all bacteria except the enterobacteria, Sandalwood oil demonstrated significantly greater antimicrobial efficacy than terpinene-4-ol, the main component of Tea tree oil.]

JeanneRose Deodorant Formula:
In a 100 ml bottle (3.5 oz) with a spray top
190 drops of Sandalwood oil
10 drops of Blue Cypress
This is about 6 ml. total
Fill the bottle with 95% neutral grape spirits (do not use vodka unless it is at 150 proof, do not use rubbing alcohol, use only real neutral grain or grape spirits (Everclear works also). The essential oils are at 6% and may need to be increased up to 10% depending on the level of scent that you want. At 6%, this formula kills the human body odor, leaving little to no odor of itself behind.

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SOME OTHER FORMULAS

Azulene in Blue Chamomile Essential Oil Can Calm Rosacea – Matricaria recutita extract is used in thousands of skincare products. Always be sure to dilute down to at least 1% concentration when used topically, and even half of that is enough to turn your base cream, oil or tonic serum a bright blue. Caution should be taken if you have any allergies since azulene in chamomile has been known to induce an allergic reaction.

•Rosacea is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition that principally affects the face. Rosacea causes facial redness and produces small, red, pus-filled pustules (bumps). Rosacea worsens with time if left untreated.

•Rosacea Formula is 20 drops of Calophyllum, 10 drops of Helichrysum, 2 drops or a tiny glob of Blue Chamomile CO₂ or West Coast Blue Artemis, , .5 oz Aloe vera gel, 1 scoop Oat beta-glucan, and up to 1 oz. Calendula infused oil. Mix these all together, and thin with Calendula oil to your desire. Apply twice daily. Store in the refrigerator.

• Clay-Mask for Delicate, Inflamed Skin ~ https://jeanne-blog.com/clays-and-muds/

Make a paste of white clay and water (or flower water). Add 1 drop of Matricaria recutita. Apply to clean face and let dry up to 15 minutes. Rinse off carefully and spray with hydrosol of Lavender or any others you might have.

• Neuritis and neuralgia and a Shingles remedy. – The formula of Essential Oils at 8% includes Helichrysum, Rosemary verbenone, Ravensara, and Roman Chamomile. Add 42% of the total in Calophyllum, and Calendula infused oil for the balance of the formula at 50%. If possible, make this formula by weight not volume. Shingles are very painful, a viral condition from old chickenpox stored in your body. I do not believe that essential oils can ‘cure’ it, but they can help ease the pain. There is a long article on my website about this. See http:///articles/shingles.html

A Formula for neuritis. Get a 1-oz bottle, add 30 drops Roman Chamomile, 20 drops of Rosemary verbenone and 10 drops Ravensara. Then fill with a carrier oil. I prefer to use a cold-pressed Olive oil that has been also pressed with Lavender flowers [see Sciabica Olive Oil]. Shake vigorously and label and use at will.

• Sunburn/Damaged Skin⁶
1% Artemisia arborescens EO
99% Aloe vera gel in solution
Apply as needed.

Fig. 7

HYDROSOL ~ Any of the hydrosols obtained while distilling plants will be acidic in nature and skin-loving for you. In particular, the plants that are mentioned in these two parts of “The Blue Oils” all produce quite effective hydrosols. The EO is only blue if the plants are picked in the morning ‘when the dew is dry but the sun not yet high’, and if mature flowers rather than leaves are picked. The waters are anti-inflammatory and can be added to any lotion or cream that you have. If you add them when the blue is still in the waters, that means that the essential oil has not quite settled out. These products need to be refrigerated.

I grew several of these plants for the hydrosol, especially the Artemisia arborescens, the blue Artemis, in my garden for years. The hydrosol was good for skincare and skin issues of all types. We like to mix it with seaweed gel for acne, rosacea, and skin irritations. I personally found the hydrosol to be more useful than the essential oil and so much easier to use, although slightly fungal in scent.

•Blue Chamomile and Roman Chamomile hydrosol. Eden Botanicals offers an organic Blue Chamomile hydrosol that they write is energetic and yet calming and comforting. They describe it as green, herbal, cool – like the scent of the tea. It is used as a gentle spray directly on the skin for compromised skin conditions, either combined with Witch hazel distillate or undiluted. Blue Chamomile hydrosol contains high amounts of bisabolol which is anti-inflammatory. A wonderful distillation water to use for all of your skin and bathing needs.

Fig. 7b

I adore Roman Chamomile hydrosol. I use it in the bath, as a facial toner and to spray my sheets for sleeping. Ann Harman found that in testing Roman Chamomile hydrosol there was 0.0042% of EO in it and the hydrosol was composed of 61 components, mainly sorbic acid, trans-pinocarveol and lesser amounts of ketones, acids, and other components.

See https://jeanne-blog.com/chamomile-roman-eo-profile/ and https://jeanne-blog.com/cypress-and-blue-cypress-eo/

•Blue Sage hydrosol, Artemisia douglasiana, The hydrosol has been found to be very effective against predations of snail populations. When I was able to obtain a gallon of the hydrosol (2000), I sprayed my San Francisco garden at the start of the spring and summer season, once again the following year and from that time to the present have not been bothered by the ubiquitous San Francisco snail brought here, in the 1800s to feed the hordes of gold miners or that is the gossip as to why we have so many. This was a great boon to the garden.

•Blue Yarrow hydrosol. There is a blue Yarrow hydrosol, although I have not had the opportunity to use it. Here is a photo of hydrosol produced by Tracy Stringfellow, who is a rancher, farmer, distiller of many lovely plants and their products. “Yarrow hydrosol is a great first aid for wounds. Wash a wound with the hydrosol to help stop the bleeding. Use it in daily treatments for wounds that will not heal. Compresses of Yarrow hydrosol on varicose veins and couperose (reddened, rough) skin will aid the healing. Use in a sitz bath for hemorrhoids and after childbirth. For digestion and hormone balancing, add a tablespoon a day to a glass of water as a drink for your diet and/or to spray lightly face or body.” —from Hydrosols & Aromatic Waters by Jeanne Rose

A flask of the Yarrow distillate containing both the essential oils floating on the hydrosol — Blue Yarrow Hydrosol by Tracy Stringfellow

Fig. 7c

HERBAL USES ~ Chamazulene itself does not occur in the plant but is formed from a sesquiterpene lactone called matricine during the steam distillation process. So, don’t expect to make herbal remedies with plants that produce blue oils and have a blue product. These plants should be carefully distilled from the freshly picked top of the plants and the hydrosol immediately frozen (to preserve the blue color) and the essential oil collected and stored in the freezer to preserve it from oxidation.

•“California Mugwort, Artemisia douglasiana (Blue Sage as an oil), is a traditional medicine of the Chumash Indians of California and is used in the treatment of menopausal symptoms, premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea. “The traditional treatment for menopause is a mild, A. douglasiana tea. This tea is much milder than the European A. vulgaris tea. A. douglasiana tea is made by placing a fresh or dried leaf in 300 ml of water. The mixture is warmed until it starts to boil at which time it is removed from the heat. The tea is allowed to steep for a few minutes prior [Copyright © 2012 SciRes. CM J. D. ADAMS ET AL. 119] to drinking. Sugar, honey or other sweeteners are not added. Anxiety is a learned disorder that must be unlearned. It is treated, in part, with A. douglasiana. People with anxiety attacks are treated once with sagebrush tea in the evening and then as needed.

A. douglasiana is also called dream sage (sagebrush) by Chumash Healers. To induce dreams, place the stems and leaves, under a pillow and sleep on the pillow. The fragrance helps with dreaming. When the plant dries, strip the leaves and stuff them into a small pillow. Place this under the regular pillow and continue sleeping on both pillows. This is a traditional use of A. douglasiana especially in very ill or aged people who cannot dream. Dreaming is considered an essential part of life and healing.

Thujone in A. douglasiana does not come over in the tea but it does in the alcohol extract.

“Gabapentin activates presynaptic GABAB heteroreceptors on glutamatergic neurons resulting in less release of glutamate. How this mechanism decreases hot flashes is not known. Gabapentin has adverse drug effects including seizures and sudden unexplained death. A. douglasiana is much safer therapy for menopausal symptoms than these drugs.”¹⁵

•When taking Matricaria chamomillaas a tea for stomach ache, sleep tea and any inflammatory issue, the dosage is “In adults, oral administration for traditional uses are generally as follows: (1) dried flower heads: 2-8 g as an infusion three times daily; (2) liquid extract/ tincture: 1-6 mL up to three times daily of 1:1 potency; 7-15 mL up to three times daily of 1:5 potency” see. Alternative Medicine Review Volume 13, Number 1 2008

•When using Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, the blooms have stronger medicinal properties than the leaves. Use the flowers as a tea to treat colds, fevers and to improve digestion and circulation. It is also a valuable tonic for the liver and kidneys. Yarrow flowers as tea can aid in increasing appetite and digestion. When used for the common cold it can help the body remove toxins. It can also aid the symptoms of PMS. It also stimulates the kidneys and urinary tract as an antiseptic. It is traditionally thought to relieve the symptoms of stomach cramps, rheumatism, hypertension, etc. or as a general tonic. Topically, it can treat (the flower tea) wounds, cuts, rashes, and burns. The leaves can be crushed and used to stop bleeding. Hemorrhoids can be eased by some Yarrow flowers added to a cool bath.

•

KEY USE ~ Use the Blue Oils to relieve inflammation and some relieve asthma.

Several Examples of 8 different blue oils, 21 bottles in all. — Fig. 8

MORE ON THE CHAMOMILE TYPES

Chemotypes investigation of essential oils of Chamomile herbs : A short review — Plants named “Chamomile”, in Arabic “babounj”, belong to the genus Anthemis, Chamaemelum, Cladanthus and Matricaria (Asteraceae). Chamomile has been recommended for a variety of healing applications and is included in the FDA’s (US Food and Drug Administration) GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list. There has been an increasing interest in the use of natural substances instead of synthetic chemicals, due to the fact that many herbal medicines are free from side effects and seen as “green” so that it is advisable to cultivate medicinal plants because of the possibility to better control quality of the target bioactive components. The species Matricaria chamomilla (German chamomile), and Anthemis nobilis syn. Chamaemelum nobilis (Roman chamomile) and Cladanthus mixtus (Moroccan Chamomile) are usually referred to as the common name “Chamomile”. Nowadays, chamomile is a highly favored and much-used medicinal plant in folk medicine throughout the world as an antispasmodic. Essential oils of chamomile herbs have been reported for their anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, healing, stimulative, carminative, spasmolytic and sedative activities. In continuation of our works on Asteraceae, we report here an investigation of the chemotypes of essential oils of “Chamomile” herbs from the Asteraceae family. … J. Mater. Environ. Sci. 7 (4) (2016) 1229-1235

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OTHER BLUE OILS Discussed by the APP (Aromatic Plant Project)

During this investigation of “The Blue Oils” and because I was involved in organizing the growing of essential oil plants in the Pacific Northwest, specifically California, for the express purpose of encouraging distillation here of aromatic plants as an industry; I was able to look at and smell many oils that had been distilled in Oregon. I went into detail about their naming and uses in part I and will only briefly name a few of these oils here in part 2. The Aromatic Plant Project (APP) was a non-profit educational organization whose mission statement is here given. >MISSION. The mission of the APP is to support local and organic production of aromatic plants; to provide resources for growers and distillers; to ensure high-quality aromatherapy products and to educate consumers as to the appropriate and beneficial uses of these aromatic products. The MISSION STATEMENT is: Cultivating today for a fragrant tomorrow.

Blue Artemis – Fig. 9

•ARTEMISIA ARBORESCENS (Blue Artemis) is a luscious deep-blue, indigo-colored oil with the characteristic scent of thujone but no thujone is contained in the plants that grow in the NW part of the USA. Oregon oil has camphor but no thujone while the Moroccan oil has thujone and little camphor. There are different uses for each of these oils. This USA sample had been analyzed as having a 20% – 40% azulene content.

•ARTEMISIA DOUGLASIANA (A heterophylla) essential oil is a clear royal blue, with a sweet sage-like odor, called Blue Sage. With this color of azulene and knowing the Native American uses of the plant, I would think that this California and Pacific Northwest species will ultimately find wonderful uses in the body-care industry especially for serious skin conditions and external applications for rheumatism or headache. There is also a CT (chemotype) of this plant with green oil.

•TANACETUM VULGARE cv Goldsticks. This essential oil is a very pale sky blue with a hint of thujone odor. I do not feel that it has any external applications in the body-care industry or use in aromatherapy.

•ARTEMISIA LUDOVICIANA var. latiloba CT esters (White Mugwort) is a watery blue in color, very perky and fruity-scented with sage and eucalyptus overtones. According to the Native Americans, the herb was used as an herbal tea to expel a dead fetus among many uses and externally to remove tumors. This was developed by a particular distiller in Oregon from only personally picked, fruity-scented types of A. ludoviciana and though the plant exists today (2020) in the wild, it no longer exists as the chemotype described as ‘esters’. That plant has died out.

•Two other oils with pale blue color were Daucus carota, which is commonly called Queen Ann’s Lace (Wild Carrot) and Chinese Celery. The oil of Aralia californica of leaves and flowers and Conioselinum pacificum with their pale colors, almost green in hue do not fall within this short article.

•I have also distilled a variety of Pelargonium graveolens called Mabel Gray that produces a pale blue oil and hydrosol. There is a picture of this on my website. http://www.aromaticplantproject.com/hydrosols.html

THE NASTY TOMATO TALE OF OXIDIZED BLUE CHAMOMILE

I enjoy telling my stories because it helps people, students, and teachers alike, to understand what sometimes happens when you use essential oils and what is being sold in the retail market.

A few years ago, I was in Hopland, CA at a store that sold equipment to save energy in the household. They had a small counter of ‘organic’ skincare and some essential oils. And one of the essential oils was Blue Chamomile in 15 ml-size brown glass bottles and it was listed at a truly small and ridiculous price for the amount of oil. This piqued my interest and I asked the saleslady if I could smell this oil and look at the color. The smell was truly awful – like rotten vegetation and spoiled cabbage. The color was even worse a ripening brown that looked like runny feces and together with the scent, one wondered what was in that bottle. A bit had gotten on my fingers and I was repulsed and ran to their bathroom to wash my hands, but no amount of soap was going to remove that putrid odor. At that moment, I might have chosen to remove the finger to get rid of the scent.

I informed the salesperson that they were selling a truly awful, out-of-date, old and rancid, oxidized Blue Chamomile. They left it on the shelf. When I got home, I wrote the store manager as well. Their response? “well the consumer is getting a good price”. Then I found and called the distributor in Florida and they were very dismissive, saying that they had gotten a really good deal on this oil and were doing the consumer a favor by making it available.

Truly, those who are reading this — This is NOT a favor to you to save money but to purchase something rotten and loathsome. Would you be pleased to buy an old rotten zucchini if it were a price reduction? My point is that you should get to know what you want, what it should look like including color, what it should smell like and make sure you do not waste your money on a bad product. This is one of the downsides of brown glass bottles. You can not see what you are purchasing. Color is important – if it is a blue essential oil it should be a blue color if it is a CO₂extraction it will be greenish-brown. Remember that!

Fig. 10

The blue color is the sesquiterpene AZULENE and all essential oils containing azulene are anti-inflammatory as a property both by inhalation and by application and occurs in EO, not in the plant (matricine).

**Oxidation changes the chemical composition of the essential oil. If any of these oils are greenish-black or brown when they should be deep blue, it indicates oxidation, age, and the existence of free radicals, and they should not be used for therapy. Furthermore, if the clear to yellow oils appear deep yellow to deep brown, they too have oxidized and are too old to use therapeutically.

© The above table, fig 10 is copyrighted and may not be used without the express permission of Jeanne Rose Aromatherapy •219 Carl St. • San Francisco, CA 94117; ph. 415/564-6337; info@jeannerose.net or

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Fig. 11

SCIENCE ARTICLE ~ Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Azulene ..F. Alan Andersen, First Published April 1, 1999 Research Article

Abstract ..Azulene is an extract from the volatile oil of several perennial herbs and is detected in tobacco smoke. It functions as a skin conditioning agent in cosmetic formulations, including hair dyes. Azulene is reported to be used in a wide range of cosmetic formulations, but these reported uses are likely to be uses of guaiazulene, a chemically related colorant because there are currently no suppliers of azulene to the cosmetics industry. The anti-inflammatory action of azulene has been demonstrated in several animal studies. Effects at the cellular level are reported to include inhibition of respiration and growth, but no effect on ciliary activity or membrane permeability. Relatively low oral toxicity was seen in acute animal studies. Azulene was not mutagenic in an Ames test, with and without metabolic activation. An allergic response to azulene was noted in one case report. These data were clearly insufficient to support the safety of azulene in cosmetics. Additional data needed to make a safety assessment include methods of manufacture and impurities, especially naphthalene; current concentration of use; skin penetration, if there is significant skin penetration, then both a 28-day dermal toxicity study to assess general skin and systemic toxicity and a reproductive and developmental toxicity study are needed; one genotoxicity study in a mammalian system, if positive, then a 2-year dermal carcinogenesis study using National Toxicology Program methods is needed; skin irritation and sensitization in animals or humans; and ocular toxicity.

‡

NOTES TO TEXT & BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Parsons, Pamela. “Chamomile”. The Aromatic “Thymes“. (Spring 1994) 2:2.
2. Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. (Elizabeth, NJ: Steffen Arctander, 1960.)
3. Franchomme, P. and Penoel, Docteur D. L’Aromatherapie Exactement. (Limoges, France: Roger Jollois Editeur, 1990.)
4. Guenther, Ernest, Ph.D. The Essential Oils. (Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company 1976.) (original edition 1952.) (in VI volumes)
5. Parry, Ernest J. Parry’s Cyclopedia of Perfumery. Philadelphia, PA: P. Blakisont’s Son & Co., 1925.) (in II volumes)
6. Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 3rd edition, 1994.) Available from /books.html
7. Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. (San Francisco, CA: Jeanne Rose Aromatherapy, 3rd edition, 1994.) Available from /books.html
8. Tutin, Heywood, Burges, Moore, Valentine, Walters and Webb, Editors. Flora Europaea, Vol. 4. (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1976.)
9. Mabberley, D.J. The Plant Book. (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, corrected reprint, 1989.)
10. Lewis, Walter H. “Notes on Economic Plants.” Economic Botany. 46(4) pp. 426-430. (1992.)
11. Bailey, L.H., staff of. Hortus Third. (Cornell, New York: Hortorium, Cornell University, 1977.)
12. http://www.aromaticplantproject.com/articles_archive/azulene_chamomile.html
13. The Blue Oils. By Jeanne Rose. Published in “The Aromatic Plant Project” from archives •1994
14. http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/Plant
15 Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris, Artemisia douglasiana, Artemisia argyi) in the Treatment of Menopause, Premenstrual Syndrome, Dysmenorrhea and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder by James David Adams, Cecilia Garcia, Garima Garg University of Southern California, School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles, USA, 2012
16. Yield and chemical composition of the essential oil of Moroccan chamomile [Cladanthus mixtus (L.) Chevall.] growing wild at different sites in Morocco. A Elouaddari, A El Amrani, JJ Eddine… – Flavour and …, 2013 – Wiley Online Library

References:
Arctander, Steffen. . Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. (Elizabeth, NJ: Steffen Arctander, 1960.)
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol
Mabberley, D.J., Mabberley’s Plant Book, 2008 Third Edition with 2014 updates, Cambridge University Press
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols.
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations.
Rose, Jeanne. Hydrosols & Aromatic Waters. /books.html
Worwood, Susan & Valerie Ann. Aromatherapy.

A field in California showing several long rows of Artemisia arborescens. — Fig 12. A field of Artemisia arborescens in California

EUCALYPTUS-pt 2

Dec16

Eucalyptus-pt 2 ~Synopsis ~ Includes properties, uses, how to use the herb and oil, chemistry, tomato tales, history, references, precautions, blending and formulas for health and well-being.2

By Jeanne Rose December 2019

Beautiful Eden Botanical Eucalyptus oils and Eucalyptus trees — **Beautiful** **Eden Botanical Eucalyptus oils** **and Eucalyptus trees**

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Eucalyptus-part 1 synopsis ~ Eucalyptus leaves have been used for thousands of years, there are many species, that support the health of your body; contains species information and general descriptions, harvest location, and sensory characteristics of many of the essential oils.

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EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 GENERAL PROPERTIES

For the individual oils see https://jeanne-blog.com/eucalyptus-pt-1/

The most common species available will be the oils of E. citriodora, now known asCorymbia citriodora, the Lemon Eucalyptus from Malawi, Madagascar, and Australia; E. dives – Broad-leafed Peppermint Eucalyptus. This contains piperitone, but there are E. dives with identical morphology but different forma which do not contain this peppermint-scented chemical; E. globulus – Blue Gum Eucalyptus at home in southeastern Australia and there are several subspecies with a different distribution. Also found in Portugal and the USA in different terroir and thus slightly different odors. It is also named Fever tree as it was planted to drain malarial swamps in the Eastern Mediterranean area; E. polybractea – Mallee or Blue-leaved Mallee Eucalyptus from Australia and E. radiata – Narrow-leaf or Narrow-leaf Peppermint Eucalyptus from Australia and So. Africa.

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Properties of Eucalyptus – The properties of Eucalyptus oil can be by IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application.

• Inhalation: Antiseptic, expectorant, mucolytic, anti-infectious, antibiotic, antiviral, bactericide, and tonic.
• Application: Antiseptic, anti-infectious, antibiotic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, pectoral, vulnerary, stimulant, mild local analgesic.
• Ingestion: Antiviral, expectorant, anti-infectious, antibiotic, tonic and febrifuge.

USES – any Eucalyptus essential oil will work best on the respiratory system.

∞ It is the Oil of Respiration ∞

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Eucalyptus-pt 2
Here are some of the conditions Eucalyptus oil and leaf might treat.
bronchitis
colds
ear infections (otitis)
flu
sinusitis
sore throat

Good for
acne
burns
chickenpox
depression
emotional overload
exhaustion
fever
herpes
insect repellent
shingles
tissue regeneration
urinary tract
vaginitis
wound healing
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EXTERNAL USE of Eucalyptus Oil ~ This oil is used externally as a simple or in a blend, externally as a massage for arthritis, for muscle pain, asthma, bronchitis, congestion, coughs, or on simple burns, and as a disinfectant-antiseptic, for fibromyalgia, and as an insect repellent.
Eucalyptus is cooling and has a powerful action in all types of fevers. An easy way to apply the EO and to induce good sleep is to massage E. smithii or E. radiata onto the feet, particularly on the soles. For aching muscles and joints, apply or massage directly onto the area. I prefer a blend mixing the Eucalyptus globulus with Sage or Rosemary oil.

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Eucalyptus-pt 2 – DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ Any of the Eucalyptus oils can be used in the diffusor, and mix easily in various blends that include spices, woods, seeds, roots, leaves, citrus and any of the herbs. The Blue Gum, Eucalyptus globulus seems to be quite stable in soap and is uplifting and fragrant. Quite an easy oil to use and to diffuse.
I especially appreciate using an inhalator, shown below. A very good piece of equipment to use for inhaling essential oils with either steam or hot water.

the inhalator, a funnel shaped tool to hold hot water and essential oils. — **Inhalator**

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EUCALYPTUS-pt 2. EMOTIONAL/ENERGETIC USE ~ “In energy work, the family Myrtaceae and especially the genus Eucalyptus is considered to be notable for its balance of all the elements of air, fire, water, and earth. It brings this balance to healing. It achieves this by focusing its effects on the energy centers, which are the lungs and the metabolism. The Eucalypts roots drain water from the swamps, and so does the essential oil of the leaf drain mucus and bring it up from deep in the lungs. It is strong and vigorous in its nature and is resistant to insects and disease — this indicates the power of the essential oil in healing and as a restorer of energy, vitality and balance to a system that has been physically or emotionally weakened by illness. It restores life in general and aids in the prevention of disease by shoring up the reserves of the immune system.”¹

An Energizing Formula is a combination of Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) and Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) in equal parts, inhaled on a hanky or via a diffuser or 6 drops of the formula with a carrier oil for massage.

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EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 INTERNAL – Internal Uses ~ We do not recommend the internal use of Essential oils. If you choose to do so, it is recommended that competent complementary medical advice be received. Take at your own risk!

Some use Eucalyptus oil for urinary tract infections (UTI). It has diuretic and antiseptic properties. Here you may wish to make a mixture of Australian Sandalwood and Eucalyptus smithii in a formula of 1•1. Take 2-3 drops in a gelatin capsule, Cranberry or Marshmallow root capsule or in honey 3X/day for no more than 2 days.

• Eucalyptus-pt 2

EUCALYPTUS BLENDING AND PERFUMERY

BLENDS BEST ~ Eucalyptus blends well with many essential oils especially those with therapeutic value such as Black and Green Pepper, various species of ‘cedar-wood’, herbs such as Lavender, Lemon Balm, Peppermint, the grass oils such as Lemongrass or Palmarosa, all type of seed oils and root oils, Mediterranean oils of Rosemary, Lavender, Marjoram, and other Australian oils from the Leptospermum spp. (aka teatrees), and conifer oils and the citrus oils. All sorts of therapeutic formulas can be made with one or another of the Eucalypts.

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EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 ~BLENDING WITH FORMULA ~

FORMULAS & RECIPES

All-Purpose Formula: For all respiratory tract infections, herpes, sore muscles, strains, athlete’s foot, parasites, and fleas… Mix 3 drops each of E. globulus, Rosemary and Lavender to 1 oz of Calendula infused or simple Olive oil. Apply externally to the chest and around the nose.

•Bedbug repellent: Mix the following essential oils together; Eucalyptus citriodora (Corymbia citriodora) oil – 10%, Orange Oil – 5%, Peppermint Oil – 5%; with alcohol 80% of the formula . Spray everywhere.

• Herpes: You will want an EO that contains citral such as Lemon tea tree (Leptospermum citratum or L. petersonii) from Australia with 80% citral and some citronellal. Mix 3-4 drops each E. globulus, L. citratum, Citrus x limon (Bergamot), and Pelargonium graveolens to 1 oz of Lemon Verbena or Melissa hydrosol. Apply 1-drop externally to the mouth or nose herpes. Shake vigorously before each use. It will ‘bite’ you.

•Insect Repellent: Add 1 teaspoon of E. citriodora (Corymbia citriodora) + ½ t. dish soap to make an emulsion. Add this to 1 cup of warm water or Tea Tree hydrosol. Rub into the skin before going out to make a powerful insect repellent.

• Respiratory: 1 drop each of any Eucalyptus, Lavender CT cineol*, Pine or Fir, and Thyme. Add to a pot of boiling water, bend over the pot, and cover head and pot with a towel. Inhale through the nose to treat the sinus and exhale through the mouth, then inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose to treat the throat and lungs. Or use the oils and technique explained in ‘Sequential Inhalation”.
* In 1870, F. S. Cloez identified and ascribed the name “eucalyptol” to the chemical that is now correctly known as 1,8-cineol.

• Tonsillitis/Sore Throat: Mix equal parts of Eucalyptus, Tea tree and Thyme and put into a diffuser. Open mouth near diffuser spout and breathe in through the mouth and out through the nose for 1-2 minutes every half hour or so. For children use half the amount of Thyme. I have known some students use a Q-tip to paint the tonsil area with a bit of this mixture or Tea Tree or Clove oil for sore throat. But it is not something that I could do.

— The Aromatherapy Studies Course. Institute of Aromatic Study.
San Francisco, CA.

EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 PERFUMERY ~ I have never used any of the Eucalypts in a perfume, although I have seen it listed in Chrissie Wildwood’s book, in a list as a perfume top note and that it blends well with Lavender and Rosemary. I do agree that it blends well with many oils and is used in blends for massage and therapy, but I would not use most of the popular species of Eucalyptus in a true perfume.

It is possible that 1-drop of Eucalyptus dives ct. piperitone or other Eucalypts with 100 drops of sweet scents would uplift and enhance the perfume.

Eucalyptus macarthurii is mainly used in perfumery because its major component is geranyl acetate up to 44-56% and some of its varieties as high as 70%. It also contains geraniol, linalool and α, and β-eudesmol. I have not had the opportunity to smell this oil but imagine it might be similar to some types of Pelargonium spp. with their pleasant fruity/floral aroma.

EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 HYDROSOL ~ I have not had the opportunity to distill or use Eucalyptus hydrosol. The only person I knew who did distill a species of Eucalyptus became sick because of the odor of a component called cuminaldehyde. Now of course we know we should distill some of the species twice to have the best possible scent and therapeutic result. If you have distilled Eucalyptus and send me a bottle of its hydrosol, I will add it to this post.

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Eucalyptus-pt 2 chart with both Chinese & Western Uses

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Eucalyptus pt 2 is 6 botanical species of Eucalyptus oil of Australia showing organoleptic qualities and some very color-full oils. — **6 botanical species of Eucalyptus oil of Australia showing organoleptic qualities and some very color-full oils.**

From left to right is E. globulus, #5 E. stageriana, #4 E. polybractea,
#3 E. dives, #2 E. radiata, #1 E. citronella (Corymbia citriodora)

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INHALING Respiratory oils SEQUENTIALLY AS A TREATMENT
For Cold & flu*

This is the most important reason JEANNE ROSE uses the Eucalyptus EO!

Be prepared to fight those awful cold & flu season symptoms with pure, therapeutic quality essential oils from plants. No drowsy side effects! 100% natural! Include in the treatment Black Spruce, Douglas Fir (organic), Eucalyptus radiata, Fir Pine (Abies siberica, 1975), Rosmarinus pyramidalis, for the sinus and Ravensara aromatica (organic).
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SEQUENTIAL INHALATION WITH a COLDS & FLU KIT
From Jeanne Rose Aromatherapy Studies Course

There are six essential oils suggested in the Jeanne Rose Aromatherapy Colds & Flu Kit and they include Black Spruce (stimulate the adrenal), Douglas Fir (antiseptic and disinfectant), Eucalyptus radiata (expectorant and mucolytic or liquefies the mucus in the lungs), Rosmarinus pyramidalis (sinus cleanser and relief), and Fir Pine is Abies spp. (cleanser and respiratory tonic), and Ravensara aromatica (antiseptic, antiviral).

When there is any sort of respiratory congestion, it is good to inhale the essential oils in hot water. Your mother probably taught you to do this. You will need a pot, water, essential oils and a towel (or an inhalator). Bring two cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Bring the pot to the table. Cover your head with a towel over the pot making a tent. Now add one drop of essential oil at a time to the pot. Inhale until the scent is gone and then add the second oil. Continue until you have used all six oils. Use the oils in the sequence as given above. This will take about six-eight minutes. Do not add more than one drop of essential oil at a time. Inhale the scent until the scent is gone (about one minute). [If you add more than one drop at a time you will probably gag and cough which is not a healthy act].

Inhale through the mouth, exhale through the nose; then inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Alternate throughout the procedure. This gives the essential oils a chance to cleanse both the sinus area and the throat and lungs.

By inhaling only one oil at a time, you will be getting the full benefits of the oil before moving on to the next.

Black Spruce is stimulating to the adrenals to get them to start working and to prevent asthma attacks as well as to help get the person off synthetic cortisone.

Douglas Fir is relaxing to the airways and has a bit of limonene. Limonene is an unsaturated monoterpene and the main component in the essential oil of citrus and some conifers. It functions extremely well as an ozone scavenger. It may be a key to preventing asthma since natural “ozone scavengers” – produced by all plants – can help break the cycle that makes treating asthma so difficult. Douglas Fir also refreshes the air.

Eucalyptus radiata is a very gentle Eucalyptus oil that acts as mucolytic, liquefying the mucus in your nose and lungs and helping to eliminate it through coughing or sneezing.

Rosmarinus pyramidalis, for the sinus, is cleansing and tonic to the sinus and stimulates the body to wake up and the brain to wake up, to get up and to feel good. The oils also help refresh the air. This Rosemary is a specific to cleanse the sinus.

Fir Pine (Abies siberica. Fragrant and antiseptic, inhaled to discourage bacteria in the airways.

And finally, Ravensara aromatica, which is anti-infectious and expectorant.

*The Jeanne Rose Colds & Flu Kit came with full directions was only $45.00 and included the above six Essential Oils and was packaged in a Handcrafted Tapestry Bag. This kit is no longer in production, but it can be made by you. Should you want my kit, please privately order at aromaticplant@yahoo.com

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EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 ~PHARMACEUTICAL USES ~ “Eucalyptus oil is used in throat lozenges; chest rubs and liquids for the purpose of clearing mucus from the nose and lungs and to relieve upper respiratory distress. It is mucolytic. It is also used in air fresheners, deodorants and insecticides. These are exactly the same reasons we use Eucalyptus in aromatherapy but without the synthetics, alcohol, dyes and artificial flavorings mixed in.” —unnamed source

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Eucalyptus tree by Tracy Feldstein

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EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 ~ HERBAL USES ~ I have mentioned the herbal uses of Eucalyptus leaves in several of my books. The leaves can be used in the bath as an infusion for cleansing and the “antiseptic action and the scent coming off the bathwater is especially nice when you have a cold or a respiratory problem.”¹²The leaves are used also in sleep pillows for breathing problems, and they are useful in mixtures of herbs for dandruff or scalp conditions. The leaves of most species can also be used when they have been macerated or decocted in oil (then strained), the infused oil being used in lotions, ointments for chapped hands, or as a rub for aching muscles. This is a very useful leaf to use herbally. Here is a link to a great chart that lists both herbal and essential uses of 81 plants. http:///articles/EO_Herbs.htm

The leaves of various species of Eucalyptus are used as a flavorant in Gothic Gin.

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EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 ~AGRICULTURAL USES ~ One of the most interesting uses I have found for Eucalyptus is in the gold business. Apparently, if Eucalyptus grows where there is gold in the earth, these trees that suck water out of the soil, (when there is gold in the soil) will absorb the gold into their leaves via the water. However, gold is toxic to Eucalyptus leaves and is then excreted. The leaves drop, the gold searchers need only test the leaves rather than digging huge holes and if the leaves come up positive then the searchers start the digging. In Canada, this is done with Pine leaves (needles) and in Australia, it is Eucalyptus when hunting for gold and other precious metals.

Eucalyptus is a heavy user of water and is planted in marshy areas to drain the soil, with less water, there are fewer mosquitoes and in some areas, fewer mosquitoes means less malaria.

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Eucalyptus-pt 2 ~ HISTORICAL AND INTERESTING ~ The essential oil .. “extracted from eucalyptus leaves contains compounds that are powerful natural disinfectants and can be toxic in large quantities. Several marsupial herbivores especially koalas and possums, are relatively tolerant of it. The close correlation of these oils with other more potent toxins called formylated phloroglucinol compounds (euglobals, macrocarpals and sideroxylonais allows koalas and other marsupial species to make food choices based on the smell of the leaves. For koalas, these compounds are the most important factor in leaf choice. Eucalyptus flowers produce a great abundance of nectar, providing food for pollinators that include bats, birds, insects, and possoms.”⁵

In 1870, F.S. Cloez identified and ascribed the name “eucalyptol” to what is now correctly known as 1,8-cineol. So, eucalyptol is an old out-of-date name and you should use cineol or cineole.

“In 1896 R.T. Baker and H. G. Smith collaborated on a series of investigations of the Eucalyptus species and “were the first to use chemistry as a means of differentiating species which showed very slight botanical differences.¹¹”

“Malaria was extinguished from the swampy Paludi Pontine region near Rome through plantation planting with Tasmanian blue gum. The word malaria is Italian (mala aria) for ‘bad air’. Originally it was believed that the disease was caused by the foul smell from the swamps. The fragrant eucalyptus trees would freshen the air. Today, the beneficial effect is explained by a reduction of the mosquitos transferring the disease. The water demanding eucalyptus trees partly dried out the swamps, and the essential oil of the fallen leaves possibly hampered the development of the mosquito’s larvae.”⁶

**•4 different sets of Eucalyptus oil representing organic, and wild, 8 species, and 3 company lines.**

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• Jeanne Rose EUCALYPTUS TOMATO TALES

Insect Repellant Formula ~ I use essential oils of Catnip, Lemon Eucalyptus (Corymbia citriodora) and Lemongrass for a bug repellent control. I have experimented with many blends and find that adding the Catnip oil significantly increases the effectiveness.

Formula:
½ oz Neem oil and add ½ oz of Coconut oil and shake together with ½ cup 95% neutral grain spirits.
Add:
1-dram (120 drops) catnip oil – attracts cats but repels bugs. (Don’t use this in the jungle or woods where tigers, lions, and panthers live).
1-dram (120 drops) Lemon eucalyptus (Corymbia citriodora) E.O (bug repellent)
1-dram (120 drops) Lemongrass/Citronella mixture E.O (bug repellent)
2-ml (60 drops) Lavender/Peppermint E.O mixture for scent (Total 420 drops)
Succuss the essential oils together well to integrate (mix). And then add the Neem and vegetable oil and alcohol and shake well (succuss) before using each time. When you wish to use this, dilute 1-2 times with hydrosol or distilled water. Put into spray containers and use liberally. Shake before each use. This recipe must also be reapplied frequently. It does require frequent reapplication; you could increase the Lemon eucalyptus (Corymbia citriodora) or add more fractionated coconut or grapeseed oil.

Personal Preferences in this formula. I prefer using the alcohol to vegetable oil because the oil makes you feel sweaty and that attracts bugs. A light spray of the scented alcohol works better for me. The spray mixed with 50•50 with distilled water or Catnip hydrosol lasts from 1-3 hours depending on how much a person sweats. In an unscented lotion base, it will last longer. The total essential oil content is about 1.5% in the spray and less than that in the lotion since it stays on longer and people tend to apply more if using the lotion. Use this at dusk and spray the screens and mosquito netting (both at dusk and before bed). This recipe is a combination of a student and my personal research.

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EUCALYPTUS-pt 2 ~ CHEMICAL COMPONENTS ~ Upon distillation it takes approximately 125 lbs. (50 kg) of Eucalyptus leaves to produce 2.5 lbs. (1 kg) of Eucalyptus oil. The primary chemical constituent of Eucalyptus oil is 1,8-cineole (aka eucalyptol or eucalyptus oxide). Cineole belongs to a group of chemical compounds called oxides. The properties of Oxides are known to be mucolytic, expectorant and for those with an ‘energetic’ mind-set, centering. Whenever you find cineole in essential oil in large quantities, you know that that EO. is going to be very good for the lungs. Many Eucalyptus species contain at least 70-80% cineole. Even Lavender oil with cineole will be useful for the lungs (cineole is considered an off-chemical for Lavender and indicates a poor quality E.O.).

The Eucalyptus essential oil generally comprises 70% cineole, pinenes, sesquiterpene alcohols, aromadendrene, and cuminaldehyde.

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The chemistry of the Eucalyptus oils is very interesting. Each species has different components.

An example is Lemon Eucalyptus (E. citriodora) now called Corymbia citriodora contains 60% citronellal and 20% citronellol. This is a better smelling scent than Citronella and because it has more of the alcohol citronellol it also is a better bug/insect repellent. This EO is not very expensive and would be a great addition to soap. Bug repellent, when inhaled, it is also calming and relaxing.

E. dives whose chemistry can change within a small group of the trees, has several distinct chemotypes and large quantities “have been distilled for the manufacture of synthetic thymol and menthol”¹⁴ if the principal component was piperitone. “The observance of physiological forms was first observed in this species”.¹⁴

E. globulus usual chemistry is 63% 1,8-cineole, 22% alpha-pinene, 4.6% limonene, 2-3% aroma-dendrene and the properties are expectorant, mucolytic, stimulant and mild local analgesic.¹³

The chemistry of E. polybractea CT cryptone is 54.5% cineole, 19.7% beta-phellandrene, 6.8% alpha-phellandrene, 2.7% limonene, 1.6-1.9% each of alpha-pinene, alpha-thujene, sabinene, myrcene, terpinene-4-ol, cryptone and the essential oil properties are mucolytic, expectorant, antiviral, anti-malarial.¹³

E. radiata chemistry is50-70% 1, 8-cineole, 8-32% alpha-terpineol, 6-8% limonene, 2-4% alpha-pinene, 1-2% myrcene, beta-phellandrene, terpinene-4-ol, terpenyl acetate and the EO properties are Mucolytic, expectorant, anti-infectious, rhinitis, and muscle relaxer.¹³

E. smithii chemical profile is 78% cineole, 8 % alpha-pinene, 6% limonene and 2% alpha-terpineol and the EO properties are Mucolytic, anti-infective, disinfectant, local analgesic, calming.¹³

•YIELD ~ The yield of E. globulus is from .75 to 1.25% while E. polybractea is .75 to 2.% and up to 5% for some species. The season of the harvest and the age of the plant affects the yield. Young plant material yields more oil.

•SOLUBILITY ~ Eucalyptus oil is soluble in 1.5 to 3.0 volumes of 70% alcohol. Some species are soluble in 1.0 to 1.2 volumes of 70% alcohol.

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Abstract/Scientific Data ~ In Food Chemistry, vol. 129, Issue 4, 15 Dec. 2011, pages 1427-1434, there was an interesting article called, “Antibacterial activity and chemical composition of 20 Eucalyptus species’ essential oils. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.05.100]. The highlights include the information that ten chemotypes were identified, including cineole, cryptone, and others.

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Key Use ~ The Oil of Respiration

• Resources ~ I have made great use of the website called www.google.scholar.com for a variety of interesting scientific studies.

•References:
¹Adapted and Used with permission. The Aromatic Thymes. Vol. 2. #1. Winter 1994.
²https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/Euclid/sample/html/history.htm
³ https://anbg.gov.au/aborig.s.e.aust/eucalyptus-species.html
⁴Optimum planting densities for the production of eucalyptus oil from blue mallee (Eucalyptus polybractea) and oil mallee (E. kochii). Author links. P. L. Milthorpea, M.I. H. Brooker, A. Sleeb H. Nicolc. 1998.
⁵Wikipedia
⁶http://www.bojensen.net/EssentialOilsEng/EssentialOils11/EssentialOils11.htm#Eucalyptus
⁷Private communications.
⁸https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ffj.2730090203
⁹GC/MS analysis of volatile constituents and antibacterial activity of the essential oil of the leaves of Eucalyptus globulus in atlas median from Morocco
¹⁰Chemistry and bioactivity of Eucalyptus essential oils. Allelopathy Journal 25(2):313-330 • April 2010
¹¹A Research on the eucalypts and Their Essential Oils by R. T. Baker and H. G. Smith.
¹² by Jeanne Rose. 2000. Available at /books.html
¹³http://www.aromaticplantproject.com/articles_archive/Australian_Essential_Oils.html
¹⁴Guenther. The Essential Oils, vol 4, p. 465
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Brooker, Ian and David Kleinig. Eucalyptus, An Illustrated Guide to Identification. Reed Books, Australia. 1996
Elliott, W. Rodger and David L. Jones. Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants
FLORA. Publication of the California Native Plant Society. Summer 2019
Franchomme & Pénoël .Aromatherapie
Guenther. The Essential Oils.
http://www.aromaticplantproject.com/articles_archive/Australian_Essential_Oils.html
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992, 2018
https://catalogimages.wiley.com/images/db/pdf/0471273961.excerpt.pdf (Nomenclature &taxonomy)
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Rose, Jeanne .The Aromatherapy Studies Course, CH. 14. 1999.
Webb, Mark A. Bush Sense, Australian Essential Oils. Griffin Press, Australia. 2000
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California.

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“Of all the essential oils Eucalyptus is one of the most powerful and useful.”

Safety Precautions - Use with care or not at all on children and the elderly. — **Safety Precautions**

SAFETY PRECAUTION ~ Use with care or not at all on children and the elderly

Perfume escaping from a bottle — ***Rising Up***

Ylang-Ylang Flowers & Oil

Oct18

Synopsis ~ The history, botany, cultivation, distillation of the flowers for essential oil, solubility and the uses of the oil.

Distillation and aromatherapy books, 10 different bottles of Ylang-Ylang oil and a small copper distillation unit. — **Books and oils needed for research**

YLANG-YLANG ESSENTIAL OIL PROFILE

YLANG-YLANG BOTANICAL & LATIN BINOMIAL ~ Cananga odorata Hook. f. & Thomson. Ylang has other common names such as Macassar-oil plant, or perfume tree. Ylang-Ylang is said to mean ‘flower of flowers’ in the Philippines. However, I was not able to confirm this. It could mean several other words as well. The Tagalog name is ilang-ilang.
“The species and its genus have a long and rather confusing nomenclatural history that has yet to be resolved completely.”³—Turner and Veldkamp

            Naming ~ There are two forms of the plant, often called Cananga odorata forma macrophylla which produces the oil called Cananga and the more well-known Cananga odorata forma genuina which is the oil we will be discussing. They are considered different trees with different plant descriptions, forma macrophylla from Java and other islands while forma genuina is best when from Madagascar.
       I have been fortunate to have seen and smelled both types although at the time (1990) I was not aware of the difference in the plants.

         Family – Annonaceae

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COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN ~ Native to India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and grows well in the Comoros, Islands of Madagascar, Réunion, as well as Haiti and Zanzibar. The Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Coral Gables, Florida have trees as does the Palm Beach Garden Club (I believe that was the name of the place where I spoke about 20 years ago).

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GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PLANT, HABITAT & GROWTH ~ Tall tropical tree growing over 60 feet high with large drooping yellow flowers, up to six inches wide. The flowers first appear green and are without fragrance and covered in white hairs, then, roughly twenty days later, change to white then to yellow and become very fragrant.

“In this country, there are also large trees which at certain times produce very beautiful fragrant flowers. One of these is the Cananga-tree, which is rather high, beautiful of the trunk (which sometimes may be a fathom around), and greyish of bark. The leaves are in rows on long twigs arranged against each other, about as long as wide, similar to a peach leaf, acute, and full of ribs. The blossom, or flowers, show themselves here and there between the leaves, in bunches, well similar to a somewhat yellow or orange ribbon, which hangs down, consisting of six long narrow weak leaflets, about a little finger long, and as wide.
Her true color at first is pale yellow, having on top as a small peppercorn, from which the fruit comes. They are very strong in scent, which they spread along the whole road where this tree stands, especially towards the night; yet their color is the most pleasant. Most of the flowers fall without producing a fruit (a few excepted) and were collected, for nosegays for the young damsels, to carry them in their hair. The native dries it, too, to smoke it under his tobacco, or to eat them with betel nut, putting a leaflet with the betel quid. They also serve to decorate with them the vegetable-bows at the large festivals, and especially with an oil that has been extracted, which is very strong, fragrant, and useful against many ailments originating from frigidness. The natives also use this oil below their betel nut, also they mix it together with their bobori . The wild does not differ much from the tame, of which we show a branch on No XLII.”³

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Ylang-Ylang flowers

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PORTION OF PLANT USED IN DISTILLATION, HOW DISTILLED, EXTRACTION METHODS ~

The flowers are harvested fresh and hydro- or steam-distilled. In 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols, explicit instruction is given on how to distill Ylang-Ylang flowers. See p. 159.⁴
1) all parts of the still must be immaculate.
2) the flowers should be fully mature, not damaged, and harvested early in the morning.
3) flowers must be taken immediately to the distillery and distilled immediately.
4) the stills are direct-fired, and the water should be almost boiling when the flowers are added.
5) proceed smoothly, quickly, uniformly with supervised eyes-on distillation.
6) condensation must be efficient, and the fractions sharply cut off.
7) complete notes should be taken on all parts of the growing, harvesting and distillation including information on the distillation weather, water, equipment, wind and temperature during the distillation.

“The flowers of the tree are steam-distilled. “The first part of the distillation produced within the first 45 minutes produces the finest oil, known as “Extra” and the receiver is then removed, and another receiver put in its place. The “Extra” is used mainly in perfumery. The same flowers continue to be distilled for several more hours and in 2 ½ hours, another receiver when removed is called the 1^st fraction, as the distillation continues for several more hours and the receiver is removed and this is called the 2^nd fraction, distillation will continue for up to 10-14 hours and finally, the end result is called the 3^rd fraction. This last fraction is often used for removing varnishes. This process can take up to fourteen hours. Ylang-Ylang oil is also produced by solvent extraction with ether and this forms a concrète and absolute.^“4
On Madagascar sometimes when a steam-distillation is done for a ‘complete’ the entire distillation is done in 6-8 hours.

Yield ~ 1.5-2%. A mature tree gives 9 kilograms of fresh flowers yielding 30 grams of oil per year.

3 fractions of the oil

There is a study and work being conducted on capturing Ylang-Ylang scent by headspace technology. This is a process used to capture the odor compounds present in the air that surround an object. Once the scent is captured and analyzed, perfumers can try to recreate the scent using what they have available.

showing Ylang-Ylang plant and headspace technology — **Scent capture by headspace technology**

SUSTAINABILITY ~ Ylang-ylang seems to be sustainable at this point and several large commercial companies are working with planters and growers to maintain the healthy population of these tree flowers. They work to champion responsible sourcing and supporting the farming community.

CONTRAINDICATIONS ~ It may cause nausea and headache if overused.

ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS of some YLANG-YLANG OILS

5 Organoleptic characteristics of Ylang-Ylang oil through 8 samples

Taste Description ~ There are now six described tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami (savory) and pungent (heat and spice).

8 different fractions (types) of Ylang-Ylang oil (7 courtesy of Eden Botanicals)

ODOR DESCRIPTION ~ There is more descriptive odor information in the Blending portion of this blog post and odor snapshots at the end. I am particularly fond of the Absolute of Ylang-Ylang and the Extra that I have from 1995, and 2005. These two types of Ylang-ylang are so rich and floral, fruity with powder and honey back notes.

The absolute and the extra have deep rich color and have a very satisfying and rich fatty, floral, and a fruity odor that has great tenacity in a scent blend. The complete and the fine organic are also enjoyable with very special uses in blending and perfumery. In a blend these top fractions have unusual power in the top note, and the fragrance fades out very slowly and elegantly in a long-lasting, floral-spicy and very sweet way that is truly reminiscent of the fragrance of the flower.

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SOLUBILITY

Ylang-Ylang is not soluble in 2 volumes of 95% alcohol. That means if you add 1-volume of Ylang-Ylang to 2-volumes of alcohol it will be milky and not clear. You have to add enough alcohol as a diluent so that it is not milky. Years ago, I had a phone call from a student that the Ylang she was using was milky and not clear when she added alcohol as a diluent. I went to my Guenther books and read all about Ylang and found that it is not soluble in certain amounts of alcohol. As an experiment in July of 2002, I decided to do some various dilutions for my own knowledge and experimentation. As follows:
1 volume of Ylang -Ylang Extra plus 2 volumes of 85% Pear EtOH — milky and creamy in color …
1 volume of Ylang -Ylang Extra plus 2 volumes of 95% Grain EtOH — milky and golden in color …
1 volume of Ylang -Ylang #3 plus 2 volumes of 85% Pear EtOH — milky and creamy in color …
1 volume of Ylang -Ylang #3 plus 2 volumes of 95% Grain EtOH — milky and golden in color …

In September 2002, I mixed 20 drops of each of the four types of Ylang -Ylang with 10 or fewer drops of each of the alcohol and found that the color stayed golden in color and that the mixtures were clear.

18 hours later at 10 am on 9/7/02 – I looked at the mixtures and found that the Ylang-Ylang had settled out of the 85% EtOH and was still turbid in 95% grain EtOH. I mixed the two types of 85% EtOH and Ylang-Ylang together and watched the settling process.

Then I read Guenther again and found that if your Ylang -Ylang gets milky in alcohol it only means that you added too little or too much alcohol — it is supposed to get milky and if it doesn’t get milky then you have an adulterated Ylang -Ylang. In other words, the more alcohol you add the milkier and cloudier it gets until up to 10 volumes of 90% EtOH and it will begin to clear. [thus, you need 10 times the high-proof alcohol as a diluent with Ylang-Ylang]

Here is more information from Guenther…

“Oils obtained by steam distillation in a large distillery on Madagascar are of good quality. The relatively high specific gravity and ester number of the “3^rd” fraction prove that distillation was not “pushed” too far. Entire distillation of Ylang-Ylang lasted 12 hours….”¹ —Guenther, The Essential Oils, vol. 5, pages 297 specifically and pages 276-316.

Solubility chart

This was a great experiment.

CHEMICAL COMPONENTS ~ Ylang-Ylang oil is very complex with many constituents including, Linaloöl, Geranyl Acetate, Benzyl Benzoate, B-Caryophyllene, Benzyl Acetate, Methyl Benzoate, Methyl Salicylate, Eugenol, Cresol and Terpenes such as pinene and cadinene. “The percentages are 33-38% sesquiterpenes 52-64% alcohols and esters, and 3% phenols, terpenes, aldehydes, and ketones”.⁴

HISTORICAL USES ~ Perfumery and as an aphrodisiac and anti-depressant.
Ylang-Ylang or Cananga oil is used as hairdressing and constituent of perfumery including Chanel No. 5 and others. It is often mixed with pimento oil (aka Allspice oil or Pimenta dioica). Macassar oil is often made using coconut oil or palm oil or that of Schleichera oleosa (called Kusum or Malay Lac tree), combined with Ylang-ylang oil that is obtained by processing the flowers of the Ylang-ylang tree, (Cananga odorata) and other fragrant oils.

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An old fun word is an antimacassar. The Macassar oil would transfer from the man’s hair to the back of his chair and the antimacassar was developed, that is, a small cloth like a doily or tatted fabric placed over the backs or arms of chairs, or the head or cushions of a sofa, to prevent soiling of the chair. The name also refers to the cloth flap ‘collar’ on a sailor’s shirt or top, used to keep macassar oil off the uniform.

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Macassar Oil – Hair Dressing
2 oz of Macassar Oil (Schleichera oleosa) or Argan oil
up to 1-oz of Argan oil (Argan oil, Argania spinosa), or Coconut oil
2-4 Ylang flowers
up to 10 drops Ylang oil (Use fraction #1 or the Complete)
Macerate in a bain-marie (with very warm water underneath) the Macassar oil and the flowers, until the oil has taken up the scent of the flowers. This will take 1-3 hours in a warm room.
Strain and add the other oil and the essential oil.
Let it rest. Check the scent – if subtle and sweet it is okay. If too strong, add a bit of Argan/Macassar/Coconut – whichever you prefer.
If the scent is not strong enough, next time use more flowers.
—Jeanne Rose 2012

INTERESTING FACTS ~ The fruits of the Cananga odorata are not edible. When the flowers are picked at night, they are the most fragrant and the resultant essential oil is known as the “Queen of Perfumes”. It is not well-known, but Ylang-Ylang oil is used in confectionery, enhancing fruit flavors such as peach and apricot, for candy, icings and baked goods, as well as in soft drinks and chewing gum.

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OVER the years, I have written about Ylang-Ylang and compared the various fractions of the essential oil and have noted that they are becoming less intense and different both in scent and in color. I have experienced and photographed these changes. I cannot say why these changes have occurred but since writing The Aromatherapy Book in 1992, I wrote the following. “Now we come to the de-evolution of Ylang Complete – once a rich and real whole scent that was distilled from the flowers and collected from the total distillation.” In the photograph below, you can see the color change from the rich color of 1995, to less color in 2000, to ever less color from 2005 to 2010. Again, I am assuming that the big perfume houses are getting the best, or possibly the distillers are distilling too long or maybe the 1^st fraction is removed, and the balance collected; but whatever is happening, it is not good!

4 bottles of Ylang-Ylang complete from different distillation of 2000 to 2010 showing change in color of the oil — **Ylang Complete over the years 2000-2010**

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And about Ylang-Ylang Extra: “It is amazing how Ylang-Ylang Extra has changed and de-evolved over the years with possibly the same reasons happening that growers and distillers are sending the highest quality Extra to Paris for high-end perfume or the weather is changing and messing with the flowers or the distillers are not being as discriminating as they once were to separate each fraction carefully. Look at the great diversity of color (also reflected in the scent) of Ylang-Ylang Extra from 1995 to 2005 to 2010.” This continues today. You can learn from this by reading the Aromatherapy Studies Course – http:///aromatherapy.html

Ylang-Ylang extra from 3 distillations from 1995-2010 — **Ylang Extra from 3 distillations from 1995-2010**

YLANG-YLANG GENERAL PROPERTIES

Properties (by IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application) ~ If you use Ylang-Ylang by application, it is antiseptic with the “second” and “thirds” fractions being antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, and antiparasitic. If you use the oil by inhalation it is somewhat aphrodisiac, calming and acts as a nervine and a sedative, antidepressant, calmative, cardiotonic, and euphoric.

Contra-Indications & Personal Note: In my own experience, most fractions of Ylang-Ylang are not cardiotonic but an accelerator of heart rhythm. Please be extra careful with this lovely perfumery oil. Do not use on children or the elderly.

YLANG-YLANG PHYSICAL USES & HOW USED ~

Application: Add a few drops in skincare products and use to soothe the skin, ease light pain or use in perfumery. Fraction #1 has often been recommended to be added to a blend to treat scabies and mange, although I have never had the opportunity to try this.

Inhalation of Ylang-Ylang: RELAX! Ylang-Ylang is used externally for bath and body and inhaled to soothe anger, relieve, pain, for insomnia, a euphoric that serves as an aphrodisiac and to treat impotence.
Use it with Lemon oil and Lavender oil to relax your blood pressure as studies have shown that this is a very effective formula. This mixture was found to be effective in lowering systolic blood pressure and sympathetic nerve system activity. The blend was 2•2•1 (Lemon/Lavender/Ylang complete) and you can read about it here.— http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21157172

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Ingestion: Ylang-Ylang has been taken in the past for PMS, to regulate circulation, as a uterine tonic, aphrodisiac, and cardiotonic. However, I am not sure that the appropriate way to use these flowers is by the intake of the oil; the oil has devolved over the years (see Interesting Facts above) and from my own personal exploration and knowledge and my uses of over 45 years, the best way is simply by inhalation for relaxation and emotional soothing.

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Ylang-Ylang oil is distilled in four fractions, extra, first, second and third, extra and first fractions are used most often in perfume, second and third in soap fragrance. “Extra and third are the most important in trade. There is also a Ylang-Ylang absolute produced by solvent extraction. Distillation is traditionally carried out in rather small stills to avoid damaging the flowers with the weight of a heavy charge. With unusual power in its top note, the fragrance fades out very slowly and most elegantly in a long-lasting, floral-spicy and very sweet note, truly reminiscent of the fragrance of the flower.” It is so good in perfumery and used in soothing skincare and by inhalation, in dilution, it eases depression and soothes anger.

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Ylang is so soothing and nice –
it makes up in scent with its price –
Add to perfume –
romance will boom –
And you may end up married with rice.
—JeanneRose2017

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EMOTIONAL/ENERGETIC USES (AP OR IN) ~
•Inhalation: Aphrodisiac, nervousness, anti-depressant, euphoric, relieves tension, stress, irritability, and anger, cardiotonic, sedative, PMS, physical exhaustion.
•Inhalation of Ylang #1 oil as an aphrodisiac and for insomnia, to sooth aggression and very useful in a man’s product for stress.
Valerie Worwood suggests that Ylang-Ylang (fraction used unknown) be used to counteract anxiety, tension, stress and shyness among other things and then it can be used to assist self-confidence and warmth. She says the “Ylang-Ylang personality is intensely feminine”. — The Fragrant Mind, p. 398.

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DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ All fractions of Ylang oil can be used with other oils and used in the diffusor. It seems especially nice to mix with Lemon and true Lavender oil to soothe the atmosphere of a room.

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BLENDING and PERFUMERY ~

https://jeanne-blog.com/gourmet-perfumery/

“The top note, the first impression of the scent as it is applied to the skin, is rather fleeting and ephemeral but richly sweet and powerful. The middle and bottom notes are most lasting, fading out slowly over the course of a day.” ⁵
• All fractions of Ylang-Ylang blend well with an enormous variety of oils and resins and scents from all parts of plants, such as the seeds (Cardamom), roots (Vetivert), stems (Lavender), flowers (Jasmin), barks (Cedrus), and herbs such as Spearmint. It would do you well to know what fraction you have and try some blends before deciding on your favorite.
Personally, because I have physical issues with my heart, I am unable to use the fractions of Ylang-Ylang called I, II, or III individually. They actually make me nauseous. So, I choose the absolute or extra in my perfumery of choice.

Photo of Ylang-Ylang flowers that the author took in 1992 — **Ylang photo of flowers from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden**
**by Jeanne Rose, 1992**

EARTHY FLORAL ROSE PERFUME
Top Note -7 drops of Bergamot, 2 drops of Rosewood,
4 drops of Rose Geranium
Bridge Note – 1 drop of Lime SD
Heart Note – 5 drops of Jasmine, 3 drops of Rose absolute,
3 drops of Ylang Extra
Bridge Note – 2 drops of Sandalwood, 2 drops of Black Pepper
Base Note – 8 drops of Patchouli and 4 drops of Vetivert
Fixative Note – 1 drop of Musk Ambrette

LECTURES & ARTICLES OF PERFUMERY

The Pharmacy of Love was a favorite talk that I gave beginning 1992 and I spoke of the power of Ylang-Ylang and other lovely scents that can be used in perfumery and for love. “…These scents included Neroli which is an essential oil from the Bitter Orange flower, Petitgrain which is from the leaves of the Bitter Orange plus Ylang-Ylang extra, using the top grade perfume essential oil from the flowers of the tropical tree, and Jasmine flower and the Atlas Cedar from the wood of Cedrus atlantica that was used in a sacred incense to invoke the gods. These were used individually and together in various parts of the wedding ritual and vows.”²

The entire article is here http:///articles/wedding_aromatic.html

“The Wedding Ritual – Essential oil worn by the bride will serve to enhance her aromatic beauty, envelop her in an aromatic aura fit for a princess, and calm her nerves! As she prepares for the exciting day, she relaxes with regular foot soaks and massages and the regular use of aromatherapy for body care. Five drops of Peppermint or Sage oil in a foot bath soothes and relieves tired feet. Ten drops of essential oil added to an ounce of unscented lotion can be used to tend the feet, or anywhere on the body. While Peppermint and Sage are good for the feet, floral oils such as Ylang-Ylang, Lavandula angustifolia, and Neroli are inhaled provide relief from jittery nerves and tension. Aromatic baths of 3-5 drops of these essential oils are swished into the tub just before stepping in to increase the efficacy of this stress-relieving time.”²

Cananga odorata hydrosol from Waiitibotanicals.com

HYDROSOL ~ I received the above two bottles of Ylang-Ylang hydrosol in October. They were distilled at the end of August from flowers harvested in the early a.m. on the island of Kauai. Distillation started before noon and lasted for 8 hours for the steam-distillation and 4 hours for the hydro-distillation. Wai’iti Botanicals values their company as a single origin botanical purveyor and started this plant from seed.

Ylang-ylang hydrosol is quite nice as a spray on the face and body. With a wee bit (1%) of Spearmint, it will bring joy and peacefulness. Spray this combination on pillows and bed linens for sweet sleep. By itself it is a calming floral aroma; added to a toner it will help combination skin or oily skin. It can also be sprayed on the hair for a light aroma. Use it after you have shampooed and rinsed, as a spray mist, and then comb it through. I have used Ylang hydrosol myself many times and have always loved this particular hydrosol. I have also seen it listed on several websites but since no information was given about how it was produced or where or when I have chosen not to purchase.

I suggest that you too, not purchase a hydrosol unless certain key bits of information are given such as when it was produced, where it was produced, who produced it, and did they follow correct distillation and sterile procedures.

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HERBAL USES ~ If you have the opportunity to obtain fresh flowers, you can “put them in a vase at home, the fragrance can last up to a month, even until flowers themselves are totally dried and shriveled.”⁴The flowers can also be infused in oil and this oil used either as a hairdressing or in massage. And of course, the flowers can be used to perfume your bath or in your hair as a decoration.

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KEY USE ~ Sexual tonic and in perfumery

YLANG-YLANG TOMATO TALES -1

Gio Costanzo, Ylang, and Champagne – Gio is a really nice friend of mine who happens to have just become single again. Geo is just learning about essential oils and became very intrigued with them when another friend of ours mentioned that they could act as ‘aphrodisiacs.’ “HOW?” was the first question asked? “Well, you can use them to make things smell really fragrant like you can put a drop or two of Eucalyptus in your sauna to make the place smell better; you could put a drop of Ylang-Ylang in your champagne and drink it with your girlfriend; you can add essential oils to the last rinse of your laundry to make your bedding smell really sweet,” was our collective response.
Several months later I found myself on a plane with him, flying to Texas for a football game, and asked about the aphrodisiac and if he had used it.
He had grabbed hold of the Ylang-Ylang in the champagne answer but hadn’t listened to the part about “a drop” and had added something like 1-drop to each glass poured from his very expensive bottle of champagne. He told me that he and his girlfriend had spent the evening together and had several glasses each of the bubbles but didn’t much like the taste and so went to bed where they promptly fell asleep. “I didn’t like it and It didn’t work very well as an aphrodisiac, but it did work to put us to sleep”.
He also told me that I had forgotten the most important part of his story that the Ylang-ylang did not make then smell good. “I thought we were going to smell good but after drinking the champagne, we smelled so bad we couldn’t stand each other in the same bed. That was the worst part of it, and you can mention that. Jeanne what we did was put a drop in every glass of champagne until we had used up all the Ylang. We hopped into bed, started getting hot sweats and then the pungent smell came over us. It was a horrid smell and we could not wash that smell away. We slept in different rooms that night because of the smell. There went that romantic night! Also bad for me on the plane the next day. That’s the way my first experience with Ylang went.”

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YLANG-YLANG TOMATO TALES -2

Ylang Dog use

a photo of Wolfie dog in 1995 — **This is the famous Wolfie Dog in 1995**

Many who have the books of Jeanne Rose, aromatherapist and author of many books concerning herbs and aromatherapy, know the story of Sumo and Wolfie. “Several books that I have written describe many natural remedies. The story of Sumo, my son Bryan Moore’s dog who was a full-grown Akita-Shepherd cross with the face of a puppy, is a lesson in natural health care. He was run over by a car and dragged along the pavement on his right side for some distance. The injury to his rear right leg was severe including severed ligaments and tendons in a 180-degree rotation around the hock joint and torn off skin and muscles. Veterinarians recommended amputation. I (Jeanne Rose) refused to allow this and treated the dog’s wounds with diluted flowering Tea Tree hydrosol (Melaleuca linariifolia) and diluted essential oils of fresh Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) and Lavender (Lavandula x intermedia var Grosso). Today there is only an almost unnoticeable scar the length of his leg and a slight limp in Sumo’s happy gait. At the same time, I used Ylang-Ylang #1 (Cananga odorata) oil in a diffuser to treat my dog, Wolfie (the beautiful blue-eyed Siberian Husky), by inhalation. She was emotionally traumatized by the terrible incident.”⁵ She also would not go outside unless attended. Ylang-Ylang #1 essential oil was added to the diffuser and Wolfie would get up and lie down nearer to the diffuser at times during the day and then go back to her bed. When Sumo came home, she was much more at ease. Wolfie was also thrown by the same car and hit her rear hip that later in life developed a spindle cell tumor. However, both dogs lived past their 16^th birthday.”.

Warning -do not trap a dog near a diffuser without a way for it to move away. Some odors are just too strong for a dog’s sensitive sense of smell.

a bottle with scent arising — **Scent Rising up**

Science article ~ Safety assessment of Ylang–Ylang (Cananga spp.) as a food ingredient
George A. Burdock, Ioana Carabin. From Food and Chemical Toxicology, vol. 46, issue 2, February 2008, pg. 433-445.

Abstract. Ylang–Ylang oil is used in the food industry as a flavor ingredient. It is a complex chemical mixture in the form of essential oil extracted by water or water-and-steam distillation from the fresh flowers of Cananga odorata Hook. f. & Thomson. Ylang–Ylang oil has been reported to cause dermal sensitization reactions in animals and humans, but it is unclear what constituent(s) within the essential oil comprise the offending agent(s) and whether some Ylang–Ylang oils that have had certain constituent(s) removed are any less prone to cause such allergic reactions. There is no indication in the literature that food exposure to Ylang–Ylang oil has caused allergic reactions. One subchronic inhalation toxicity study, involving Ylang–Ylang oil as part of a larger fragrance raw materials mixture, gave no indication of causing adverse effects, but the relevance to risk assessment of oral food flavoring use exposures is likely minimal. No further toxicity data for Ylang–Ylang oil have been reported. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Ylang–Ylang oil has a long history of fragrance and food flavoring use, with no indication that its estimated consumption from food flavoring use (0.0001 mg/kg/day) has led to any adverse human health effects. These data indicate that at the current level of intake as a food ingredient, Ylang–Ylang oil does not pose a health risk to humans.

References:
¹Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Volume 5, pages 267-316.
²http:///articles/wedding_aromatic.html
³ A history of Cananga (Annonaceae). IM Turner, J.F. Veldkamp. Gard.Bull.Singapore, 2009- nparks.gov.sg
⁴Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols
⁵Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations.

Alpharnd@aol.com. Nadim Shaath. www.alpharnd.com
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol
I.M. Turner and J.F. Veldkamp.A History of Cananga (Annonaceae). Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 61 (1): 189-204. 2009
Mabberley, D.J. Mabberley’s Plant Book. 2008 3rd Edition with 2014 updates. Cambridge University Press
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols. /books.html
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations.

Moderation in All Things.

Be moderate in your use of essential oils as they are just not sustainable for the environment.
Be selective and more moderate in your usage.

ODOR SNAPSHOTS

Odor snapshot of YY Abs & Extra

Odor Snapshot of YY Complete & Organic Fine

Safety considerations — **Safety Considerations**

Many thanks to the companies who have wholeheartedly supported aromatherapy education and this blog with samples, essential oils, and GC/MS. Especially to EdenBotanicals.com

Photo of Ylang-Ylang flowers from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden by Jeanne Rose 1992 — **Ylang photo of flowers from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden by Jeanne Rose 1992**

CITRUS & MORE

Sep11

Citrus are favorite fruit trees and their essential oils perform in many formulas, therapeutics and blends — they are widely grown and healing to mind and body.

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CITRUS & ODD CITRUS

Written and Collected by Jeanne Rose – Sept. 2019

INTRODUCTION ~ There are many types of citrus that are grown all over the world. Many are very familiar and during this past year, since January 2019, I have covered all the major essential oil citrus plants, (January – Bergamot; February – Grapefruit; March – Lemon; April – Lime; May – Mandarin/tangerine; June – Neroli/Bitter Orange; July – Orange/Blood Orange; August – Petitgrain), I have missed others such as Pomelo from Vietnam, Buddha Hand, Lemonade tree, Yuzu, Kumquat and probably others. These latter do not have a strong presence in the essential oil industry. But it is time to give them a paragraph or two.

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CITRUS FAMILY ~ RUTACEAE
The citrus are in the family Rutaceae, commonly known as the rue or citrus family of flowering plants. Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents. They range in form and size from herbs to shrubs and large trees.

CITRUS FAMILY TIES ~
The parents of each of the types of citrus can be very confusing and if you want to have a fine time scrambling your brains look at the incestuous crosses, back crossing, mutations, aberrations, speciation events, hybrids, genetic mixings, varieties, groups or outgroups, rootstock changes and terroir effects of the many Citrus types to understand the various citrus fruits, we have now.
For example, Bergamot parentage is 3rd generation from the original citrus species with Lemon and Bitter Orange as the male and female parent but each of those are also 2^nd generation. The Grapefruit group of citrus originates from a back cross of C. paradisi with a female of C. maxima (Pomelo) and a more up-to-date Latin binomial is Citrus x aurantium. The parents of the ‘Mexican Lime are C. micrantha and C. medica and then the Mexican Lime crossed with Lemon gives the ‘Tahiti’ Lime (C. x latifolia). Neroli, Citrus x aurantium L, also called C. amara, C. aurantium ssp. Amara. It Is a cross between Citron and of C. reticulata (Mandarin) + C. maxima (Pomelo) as the female parent. Mandarin can be called Citrus reticulata var. mandarina and Tangerine can be called Citrus reticulata var. tangerina. Mandarin has also been called var. deliciosa and of course it has other names as well.

The ‘x’ in the middle of any Latin binomial simply means that the plant is a cross, probably infertile as well, and in the case of ‘Bitter Orange’, several types of Citrus were crossed to obtain this plant. There are many backcrosses in this group of Bitter Orange/Neroli.

There is a naming problem in citrus, and it is complicated by the number of edible citrus that are recognized plus the many crosses, back-crosses, rootstock clones, hybrids, species, subspecies and varieties. “The taxonomy of the citrus fruits is complicated by hybridity and apomixis (asexual reproduction in plants), with many stable hybrid lines being accorded species status, so that the number of edible species recognized in the genus Citrus L. … varies from 1 to 162”.¹Anywhere from 12 up to 162 different ones are accorded subspecies or varietal names.

Some Citrus Parentage

Citrus Family Ties ~https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citrus_hybrids.svg

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CITRUS COUNTRIES OF ORIGINS AND HISTORY ~ There is a wide range of study of where and how the diverse group of Citrus developed or are indigenous. They are now naturalized worldwide. For instance, Guenther mentions that Lime is probably a native of the East Indian Archipelago and then brought to the Asiatic mainland and on to tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Lime was brought to Europe by the Arabs. Citron, with a primary lineage, was called ‘the fruit of Persia’ and in 327 BC, Alexander the Great defeated this area and the Greeks found Citron there under cultivation. For more extensive information on country of origin of citrus, read volume 3, of The Essential Oils by Guenther OR “Citrus edited by Giovanni Dugo and Angelo Giacomo, 2002”.

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CITRUS ENDANGERED OR NOT ~ There are so many kinds of citrus in so many parts of the world that at this time the citrus fruits, juices, cold-pressed peel oil and EO are not endangered.

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CITRUS GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PLANT HABITAT AND GROWTH ~ Citrus is grown in tropical and subtropical areas, including various southern areas in the southern USA. They are found in sunny, warm areas throughout the world. The tree is a small evergreen tree, somewhat cold-hardy and tolerant of drought.

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CITRUS. Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields ~ The leaf, flower, peel of various citrus are either cold-pressed (CP) or steam-distilled (SD) depending on the type of scent you wish. Lime peel and other citrus peels is not phototoxic when SD but is when CP. Yields are listed in the original articles on this blog.

Citrus Decorative Slice

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CITRUS CHEMISTRY

Here is probably where you want to review volume III of Guenther’s The Essential Oils because here is where you will find 359 pages discussing each of the citrus oils and the equipment used to cold-press or steam-distill them as well as their production, and various areas where these citrus oils are grown and individual articles on chemistry and background.

THE STORY OF LIMONENE ~ Chemical Components ~ Limonene

Limonene Story was edited by Hubert Marceau who is at www.phytochemia.com

“Limonene, a compound of the terpene family, is present in the distilled essential oil and in the cold-pressed oil of citrus peel [NOTE: if you are talking about the seed oils, that is something else.] But limonene is present in the cold pressed oil from the rind and in the distilled essential oil.”

There are two isomers of limonene. Each have at least 30 different names. They are most easily identified by the R or S type. 4(R)-limonene ) (+)-Limonene) and 4(S)-limonene. Alternative prefixes to label optical isomers include ‘ d ’ and ‘l’ and more commonly the symbols + and – are used.

“The limonene structure has a chiral center, and thus it can be found in nature as one of the two enantiomers mentioned above, the (R)- and (S)-limonene. The R isomer has the characteristic sweet smell of oranges while the S isomer has a more smell like a piney turpentine.”

D-limonene ((+)-limonene), which is the (R)-enantiomer d-limonene is (+)-Limonene and D-LIMONENE is a colorless, clear, mobile liquid with a pleasant sweet odor as in mandarin & orange. There is the L-LIMONENE, (-)-Limonene, S)-(−)-Limonene or sinistral or left enantiomer. Lime and lemon is (S)- smells like the sour of lemons.

Limonene Right and Left

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contraindications — **Contraindications**

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CITRUS VARIETIES NOT YET DISCUSSED

BUDDHA HAND CITRUS ~ C. medica var. sarcodactylus. The fingered Buddha’s hand, is a bizarre looking citrus, an elongated fruit about 6 inches long with many vertical indentations on the peel that make this yellow-colored fruit look like a hand. It has a thick peel used to flavor distillates, liquors or the peel is candied and used in cooking and in various baked goods. It is wonderful infused in vodka to make a delicious base for a cocktail. This citrus can also be chopped and infused in neutral grape or orange spirits (https://organicalcohol.com/) and used as a citrus fixative in perfumery or in citrus accords or as a diluent for fine perfumes. The fruit is also used fresh or dried in clothing closets to fragrance clothing or stored items. (if used fresh it must be removed after a week or two or it will mold). This fruit is mostly peel and is candied and eaten or used to flavor vodka and other high alcohol beverages.

It is an ornamental tree in the garden, the fruit contains no pulp and no juice, and the zest is used in desserts, or candied as a sweet. Possession of the fruit or a tree “is believed to bring good health and to symbolize wealth. The Chinese character for “hand” (shou) sounds like that for “longevity” and so the two are associated. In resembling the classic prayer position of Buddha’s hand, the long fruit fingers connote Buddhism.”.

Buddha Hand Citrus – June 2019

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CITRON or ETROG ~ Citrus medica, one of the five pure citrus species, male parent with female Bitter Orange to produce the Lemon, is also called ‘Etrog,’ or cedrat and used on certain Jewish holidays. There are also specific names based on its various shapes. An etrog is a citron that looks mostly like a misshapen lemon but smells delicious; it is a fragrant citrus fruit, consists of a dry pulp and only a small quantity of juice. The branches and fruit are waved each day on Sukkot, except on Shabbat, in a specific manner for a variety of reasons. I do not know much about the Citron except that it is important on Jewish holidays and based from ancient studies, the citron was used mainly for medicinal purposes. It was greatly used to fight seasickness, intestinal problems, pulmonary illnesses, and other illness.

I use the Citron by taking the most fragrant part of the outer peel (flavedo or exocarp) and removing any unscented part of the albedo (white part), place in jar and cover with 95% neutral grape spirits. I imagine you could also use the 95% neutral orange spirits for a stronger odor. After a few weeks, I strain out the alcohol and either add more peel or just label the container and use it as part of the diluent of a perfume.

**Etrog photo by Jeanne Rose March 2019**

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KUMQUAT ~ Citrus japonica. This is a small fruit-bearing tree with a small large olive-shaped fruit that can be eaten when ripe, peel and all. They are native to south Asia and were introduced to Europe about 1846 by Robert Fortune. The originally given Latin name was Fortunella japonica. I am not familiar with the essential oil, but Wikipedia says, “The essential oil of the kumquat peel contains much of the aroma of the fruit and is composed principally of limonene which makes up around 93% of the total.Besides limonene and alpha-pinene (0.34%), both of which are considered monoterpenes, the oil is unusually rich (0.38% total) in sesquiterpenes such as a-bergamotene (0.21%), caryophyllene 0.18%), (bergamotene α-humulene (0.07%) and α-muurolene (0.06%), and these contribute to the spicy and woody flavor of the fruit.”

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LEMONADE TREE ~ The correct name is Citrus x limon unless it is a Mandarin or tangerine and then would be Citrus reticulata. Of course, it also could be (Citrus limon x reticulata) and this is a cross between a lemon tree and a mandarin tree that was developed in Australia but was first found in New Zealand in the 1980s. The fruit is sweet like a Mandarin but with a citrusy lemon bite like a Lemon. You can pick and eat the fruit off the tree like an Orange.

Lemonade Tree – photo courtesy of Cheryl Brighton Smith

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LIMETTA ~ Citrus limetta, alternatively considered to be a cultivar of Citrus limon, C. limon ‘Limetta’, is a species of citrus, commonly known as mousambi, musambi, sweet lime, sweet lemon, and sweet limetta, it is a member of the sweet lemons.⁵ It is a cross between the citron and a bitter Orange. In France, this variety is known as ‘a Mamelon’ that describes the nipple shape of the end of the fruit. The juice and peel are both used. A sweet lemon is not an oxymoron. Neither is it a new fancy hybrid. Persian limu shirin, Citrus limetta, is one of the oldest cultivated varieties of lemons and it tastes sweet like honey, with no hint of acidity. “The first time I bit into a slice was a shock, because I was prepared for tartness and instead my mouth was filled with sweetness. Even more beautiful was the scent of the peel that lingered on my fingers. It also smelled like no lemon I had tried before.” This is a lovely quote from January 28, 2019 by Victoria, “…The best way to enjoy sweet lemons is to make a glass of juice and drink it over ice. No sugar or any other flavorings are needed. The juice has the interesting property of turning pleasantly bitter as it oxidizes, becoming reminiscent of sweetened grapefruit juice. In France, this variety is known as ‘a Mamelon’ that aptly describes the shape of the end of the fruit. Juice & peel used ….” —January 28,2019, Essays on Flavor and Fragrance, Food & Fragrance, Perfume 101.

fruits of the Limetta — **Limetta fruit**

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POMELO ~ Citrus maxima or pamplemousse. This is another large original form of citrus that is eaten and in Vietnam, the peel is steam-distilled for the oil. When I wrote the blogpost on Grapefruit in February 2019, I only briefly mentioned the Pomelo. I was written too by (Yen Ta) and she mentioned that I had not said much about Pomelo. I knew of it and had seen the fruit in the market but had never experienced the oil. In August, I received this bottle of steam distilled EO from Vietnam via Yen Ta and am now able to discuss it. Pomelo peel SD is colorless, clear, non-viscous, of low intensity, and bitter aromatic taste. Its odor is very mildly citrus, with herbaceous afternotes. I have used it in a citrus accord as well as making some bases with it for perfumery purposes.

Pomelo rind is used to control coughs and as an expectorant. Pomelo peel extract has also been studied in mice to prevent high-fat diet-induced metabolic disorders. Since it is related to Grapefruit as one of Grapefruits primary parents, it shares common furanocoumarins (because of the potential for furanocoumarins to increase the bloodstream concentration of a drug to higher than expected, it can lead to unfortunate consequences), and thus should not be taken with heart medications. Steam-distilled Pomelo peel when used externally does not cause sun toxicity.

White fleshed Pomelo is milder in acidity than the red-fleshed. Pomelo when analyzed by GCMS has been found to contain up to 62% d-limonene, anethol to 9.5% and nootketone to 5.6%. Supercritical CO₂extraction has been done on Pomelo flower and analyzed and Pomelo CO₂can be used in perfumery and other uses now being examined.

Pomelo fruit and the essential oil

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YUZU ~ Citrus junos Sieb ex Tanaka – it is well-known and very popular in Japan and Korea and has been in use for about 1000 years. It is used in the cuisine of Japan and in cosmetics. I have had the opportunity to taste it here (San Francisco) at various restaurants in salad dressings and in desserts. However, for people taking certain medications, one should limit their ingestion of this food.

There are many cultivars of this plant and the essential oils from the peel have been examined for at least six of the cultivars. These are acidic citrus from China that are often grown as (strong, resistant) rootstock for other citrus varieties and for its fruit. The fruits are acidic and moderately juicy with a very pleasant citrus aroma and can be used as a lemon substitute. The peel is strongly citrus and pleasantly scented and makes a good addition to blends and in perfumery. If making a Citrus scent, adding 5% of Yuzu to a base note increases the sweet-tart scent of the entire perfume. The scent is very refreshing.

Yuzu fruit in Dec. 2008 and Yuzu oil courtesy of Eden Botanicals — **Yuzu – December 2008 – Yuzu oil courtesy of Eden Botanicals**

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CITRUS OIL – ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS

Sensory characteristics of the volatile oil of citrus — •

ODOR DESCRIPTION/ AROMA ASSESSMENT ~ Citrus Notes ~ Citrus oils are used in the perfumery business to impart a fresh, sparkling note to any blend. They are usually not overpowering. They can be used in up to 25% as the base scent for classic type of eau de cologne. Citrus oils harmonize with many other essential oils and they are used in different concentrations in almost all scent blends and modern perfumes. >In combination with Lavender oil, citrus oils are the base for English Lavender which is an 1826 creation. High concentrations of citrus oils are in Chanel No. 5 (1921). Also, of importance are the citrus oils in pop drinks like Coca-Cola and others.

GENERAL PROPERTIES

Properties and Uses~ Some of the citrus oils are relaxing and most are very enlivening. They are calming but do not cause lethargy or fatigue. In general, these oils are slightly antiseptic, ease gut spasm (antispasmodic), can be slight diuretics, purifying (depurative), ease stomach aches, cholagogue (promotes the discharge of bile); and when inhaled can be calming but not exhausting; and in skin care or by external application in products have antiseptic properties.

Physical Uses & How Used ~
Application (AP) – Citrus oils go nicely into many blends that are used for skincare. It would be a top note or heart note to other aromatic oils in natural perfumery and blends well with many. In lotions and creams, they have a slight antiseptic quality as well as the aromatic livening scent.

Ingestion (IG) – Do not drink the essential oils. Drink the juice instead or dry and keep the peels for your bath and potpourri.Inhalation (IN) – Citrus oils are generally relaxing but not tiring by inhalation , especially when mixed with some of your other favorites such as Lavender, Spikenard, Jasmine, and many more.

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SKIN CARE FORMULAS are available in my 350-page Herbal Body Book that is chock-full of great skin, hair, and body care formulas. Here is one I have always enjoyed. They can add nuance to any blend or perfume.

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A CITRUS MASK BY JEANNE ROSE

The San Clemente Citrus Mask. Peel a small orange, a small Lemon, or other citrus, and mash the pulp, or else put the pulp into a blender and blend. Add enough yellow Corneal to make gritty. Apply to your clean slightly moistened face or body. Let the mask stay for a few minutes. If you have collected the juices separately, add them to steaming water and steam your face for a minute. Roll of the gritty citrus meal with your fingers for a gentle exfoliation. Rinse off the mask with tepid water or take a shower and rinse off the mask or use the gritty Citrus/Cornmeal as a scrub to also exfoliate your legs and arms. Dry and apply a citrus hydrosol spray to finish.

There are many ways to use this mask and it will leave your skin very fresh and clean. Use it when you are fatigued and to prevent aging. The San Clemente Mask reminded my husband of hot supermarkets and parking lots; so, when your feet are hot and your eyeballs feel like they are falling out of your face from the heat, apply the San Clemente Orange and you will feel better. [see p. 190 of for more].

The San Clemente Mask reminded my husband of hot supermarkets and parking lots; so, when your feet are hot and your eyeballs feel like they are falling out of your face from the heat, apply the San Clemente Orange and you will feel better . [see p. 190 of 350-page for more]

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Diffuse/Diffusion ~ You can pretty much mix and match your citrus oils any way you wish with other Mediterranean type oils or florals. Pick the effect and choose your oil. Look at the citrus blogposts already posted for many uses and blends. I have already written about Bergamot, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Mandarin, Tangerine, Orange, Bitter Orange, Neroli and Petitgrain.

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Emotional/Energetic Uses (AP or IN) ~ Inhale the citrus oils to combat apathy, to stimulate appetite, to increase creativity, to improve mood, to give joy, to refresh your life. Remember them when you are depressed, exhausted and need emotional healing. All the citrus oils have a joyful sunny quality to them.

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FORMULA for Physical Use by Inhalation ~ Get your oils and using Lavender, Lemon, and YlangYlang, it was found that this aromatherapy oil combination is effective in lowering systolic blood pressure and sympathetic nerve system activity. The blend was 2-2-1 and you can read about it here. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21157172

Ylang flowers and essential oils of Lemon, Lavender and Ylang courtesy of Eden Botanicals.

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BLENDING & PERFUMERY ~ Blending with citrus oils is very easy. It is almost impossible to make a mistake. Know what you want to do, pick the correct citrus for the effect and then make a few samples to scent and try. Mix with Rosemary, Vetivert, Cloves, Caraway; or herbs, roots, flower buds and seeds. Use the charts in Chapter 1 of and The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations to make your selection of the oil and the application.

EAU DE COLOGNE

The best is made with a variety of citrus scents with added Rosemary. There are many ways to make this cologne. George W. Askinson, Dr. of Chem. in 1865, said, “Cologne water of the most superior and incomparable quality is made by dissolving the essential oils in the alcohols and then distilling it, then adding the Rosemary and Neroli to the distillate. Dissolve the aromatics in 95% neutral grape spirits — distill — add the Neroli and the Rosemary.” Effect the dilution required with Orange flower water or Rose water. Ultimately, Eau de cologne is 75% fragrant alcohol and 25% water or flower water.

Here is one recipe, and Orange spirits can be substituted at the end for some of the Grape spirits. You can adjust the ingredients up and down as you see fit.

1 quart (85-95%) Grape spirits (substitute some orange Spirits for some of the grape)
4 ml Orange peel CP
2 ml Bergamot peel CP
½ ml Bitter Orange CP
½ ml Neroli petal EO
2 ml Rosemary EO
You can also make it of Corn spirit which has a distinct aroma difference from the grape spirit. I use OrganicAlcohol.com

4 bottles of alcohol for perfumery or tincture — **4 kinds of 95% neutral spirits for perfumery or tincture**

The difference between eau de Cologne made in France or made in England is the difference in the spirit used and results in a completely different odor. Fine perfumes should only be made with freshly distilled 70-95% neutral grape spirits.

All the older perfumes were diluted down with neutral grape spirits. Originally, they were considered medicines and were taken internally by the drop. After the introduction of synthetics, around 1850, perfumes were made with chemicalized ingredients and were no longer edible. However, even today certain uplifting ‘spirits’ are sold in Europe as a tonic against seasickness, carsickness and all sorts of nausea.

“The original eau de cologne was invented in 1709 by a man named Farina who was homesick for his home country of Italy. He described the scent and said it reminded him of a spring morning with mountain daffodils and the orange blossoms after a rain.” ⁷

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HYDROSOL ~ I truly love all of the citrus hydrosols. I use them for everything. I found that a well-distilled Lemon peel hydrosol was great for itchy eyes as a wash. I have used Neroli hydrosol as a perfume, Orange hydrosol to spray my house at Christmas and so many other uses. Read the individual blogposts for using the citrus hydrosol. My favorite places to purchase citrus hydrosols is from people who live where the citrus grow and that includes LancasterCreations.com as they are an organic apothecary and community in the growing heart of California and near the ancient Sequoias of the Sierras.

**Yuzu Hydrosol by Positively Aromatic – EO**

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CITRUS LEAF DISTILLATE TOMATO TALE

In September 2019, the citrus leaves arrived. I opened them, examined the leaves and noticed they were covered with dust; the leaves were absolutely covered with whatever comes out of the sky. So, I carefully washed and cleaned every one of them by hand. Then had a good whiff and enjoyed the odor. If you want Petitgrain hydrosol you will have to get leaves ONLY from an area that is out of the pollution and somewhere where the air is clean, and the citrus is organically grown.

The only other time I have ever seen leaves so dirty and musty like this is when I was taken to an abandoned Orange grove in Los Angeles that was at the center of a confluence of interstate freeways and in the smog — my Distillation class and I picked leaves individually, washed, wiped, dried, cleaned each one before we did the distillation. When we were done, we passed the hydrosol around just for the smelling but then poured it away, back onto the ground under the trees. I know there are organic farms in the California foothills, such as the Olsen Farm, where you could pick organically grown citrus leaves that are not encrusted with pollutants. I worry about people and their children that are inhaling these pollutants every day. I hope that people think about this and take some sort of protective herbs for lungs and on the skin and do not pick and use any plant product that is not organically grown and sustainable.

Citrus leaves

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CITRUS INTERESTING INFORMATION ~

THE KEEPING QUALITIES OF CITRUS OILS

“Lemon and Orange oils even improve after a year or two of cold storage in that some of the dissolved waxes separate from the oil and may be removed easily by filtration. The resulting oils are more soluble and produce clearer extracts. Neither odor nor flavor is impaired if the oils are kept in tin-lined fully filled drums.”⁶

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ABSTRACT/SCIENTIFIC DATA: Antifungal activity of natural and modified flavonoids isolated from citrus species. By Salas, et al. … Abstract. The antifungal activity of isolated flavonoids from Citrus species, such as naringin, hesperidin and neohesperidin, and enzymatically modified derivatives of these compounds, was studied on four fungi often found as food contaminants: Aspergillus parasiticus, A. flavus, Fusarium semitectum and Penicillium expansum. Although all the flavonoids showed antifungal activity, the intensity of this activity depended on the type of fungus and compound used. The hesperetin glucoside laurate strongly inhibited the mycelial growth of P. expansum, while prunin decanoate was the most inhibiting flavonoid for A. flavus, A. parasiticus, and F. semitectum. The flavonoids naringin, hesperidin and neohesperidin, obtained as byproducts at low cost from the residues of the citrus industries, present an interesting option for these industries. — Food Chemistry, Vol. 124, issue 4, 15 February 2011, pages 1411-1415.

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KEY USE ~ Citrus peels, leaves, flowers are used for scent and the flesh is used for food and ritual.

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Citrus Limerick (2019)
Citrus fruit is delicious to eat
The taste is fine and cannot be beat.
Bright and sunny
Just like honey
Citrus fruit is better than meat.

Rising up

CITRUS TOMATO TALE FROM 1961-1963

Years ago, in 1961-1963, I lived in the middle of an Orange grove, in a sweet white farm-style house with high ceilings and ceiling fans, lots of windows where the breezes could blow through with the scent of oranges and citrus flowers. I lived there with my husband and my blue Great Dane dog George. George later became an important figure in my rock and roll world and was eventually photographed for the cover of an album as well as the centerpiece of a photograph that included fashion I had designed and the models wearing them including Janis Joplin. But our lives started here in the middle of a fragrant orange grove.

I had a big square white bedroom with a ceiling fan and right outside the bedroom window was a large citrus tree that had had grafted onto its trunk various varieties of citrus. This tree depending upon the season was an orange tree, lime tree, lemon tree, grapefruit tree or one other variety that I have forgotten. Part of it was always in bloom, and it always scented up the dark humid Florida nights. Those were the days of no cell phones, little to no TV, and those quiet dark nights amongst the trees and the divine scent of citrus flowers. Eating fresh citrus every day and smelling those luscious flowers in the evening was the best part of my time living in Florida. I wonder if the sweet scent still lingers and the quiet can still be found there in the night.

Eventually, George and I, jumped into my red Comet station wagon with all our belongings and made a 6-week rambling journey across the United States to come home to California and start the next phase of life in Big Sur, CA.

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References ~
¹ A classification for edible Citrus (Rutaceae) D.J. Mabberley, unknown date
²https://www.popoptiq.com/types-of-lemons/
³ Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
⁴ Employment of a new strategy for identification of lemon (Citrus limon L.) cultivars using RAPD markers. Q Mu, X Sun, G Zhong, X Wang… – African Journal, 2012 – academicjournals.org
⁵Pharmacogn Rev. 2016 Jul-Dec; 10(20): 118–122.doi: 10.4103/0973-7847.194043. Anticancer Activity of Key Lime, Citrus aurantifolia by Nithithep Narang and Wannee Jiraungkoorskul
⁶Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Volume III.Krieger. 1974
⁷http://www.cologneboutique.com/the-history-behind-eau-de-cologne/

Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citrus_hybrids.svg

Pomelo essential oil provided by tahaiyen@gmail.com
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, CA.
Rose, Jeanne. , San Francisco, CA 2000 from 1976. The best and most complete.
Rose, Jeanne. Kitchen Cosmetics. San Francisco, CA.

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PETITGRAIN EO & HYDROSOL

Aug15

Leaves of Orange and bottles of Petitgrain essential oil — **Petitgrain Combava, Petitgrain sur Fleur, Petitgrain Bitter and leaves. Leaves courtesy of April Leona Lancaster from California-grown citrus.**

Petitgrain — Petitgrain EO is an Essential Oil and not a species; leaves and twigs from any citrus when distilled are called Petitgrain (small fruit) and depending on terroir the scent is different. Includes formulas and recipes.

PETITGRAIN EO &. HYDROSOL
By Jeanne Rose ~ 8-17-19

PETITGRAIN EO — COMMON NAME/LATIN BINOMIAL ~ Petitgrain is the name of an essential oil and is not a plant species, it is the results of distilling the leaves and twigs of citrus and can be made from any citrus. It is particularly Petitgrain Bigarade from Citrus x aurantium, that is, the leaves and twigs of the bitter Orange. Normally, it is from Citrus x aurantium (L.) but you can also have Lemon Petitgrain, Combava petitgrain, Orange Petitgrain, Mandarin Petitgrain or any kind of petitgrain.

Family: Rutaceae (the Rutaceae are a family, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales. Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents. They range in form and size from herbs to shrubs and large trees.)

Petitgrain EO — Other Common Name/Naming Information ~ Originally, Petitgrain which means “small fruit” was distilled from the immature and small round green fruits of the bitter Orange and the leaves. Originally only that which was distilled in France from the true bitter Orange could be called Petitgrain but eventually when Paraguay began to produce up to 70% of the world’s supply, any citrus leaf and twig could be called petitgrain. Of course, if you distill the fruits then there will be no mature fruit to eat or preserve. So eventually, the distillation was limited to the leaves and small branchlets, but the oil is still called Petitgrain.
Blossoms of the true bitter (sour) orange tree, Citrus x aurantium Linnaeus, subsp. amara L., on being distilled yield Neroli bigarade oil. If, on the other hand, the leaves and petioles (leaf stalk) are distilled, oil and hydrosol of Petitgrain bigarade is obtained and if you cold-press the rind then it is called Bitter Orange oil.

Petitgrain EO and hydrosol is thus produced from the Bitter Orange tree after the harvest of the flowers (for Neroli); leaves and stalks are freshly picked from July to October and freshly and immediately distilled for the best product. It should be emphasized that American producers wishing to produce Petitgrain oil and hydrosol be very careful as to the citrus variety they use, time of harvesting and the type of distillation.

PETITGRAIN EO — GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PLANT HABITAT AND GROWTH ~ Citrus is grown in tropical and subtropical areas, including various southern areas in the southern USA. They are found in sunny, warm areas throughout the world. The tree is a small evergreen tree, somewhat cold-hardy and tolerant of drought, but if it is Mandarin Petitgrain, then know that the fruit itself is very delicate and sensitive to the cold. Citrus blooms in winter months and produces small green fruits in spring while fruits ripen in fall. It grows in soil with a pH of 6 to 8. They do not, however, grow well in soils with high salt content. Leaves are harvested late June to October for distillation.

PORTION OF THE PLANT USED IN DISTILLATION, HOW DISTILLED, EXTRACTION METHODS AND YIELDS ~ Petitgrain is produced by steam distilling the leaves and small branches of certain citrus trees after the fruit is harvested. The most important of the Petitgrain oils comes from the Bitter Orange tree. Paraguay is a big producer of Petitgrain from citrus trees gone wild since 1877. Higher quality Petitgrain comes from France and Italy, sometimes Egypt and Morocco.
True Petitgrain EO and hydrosol should originate exclusively from the true bitter Orange tree. These distillations show that the oil will have a relatively high laevorotation and the presence of leaves from sweet Orange trees will result in oils of lower laevorotation, or even dextrorotation. (See Orange blog post at jeanne-blog.com)

The Petitgrain is distilled from the leaves and twiglets when the fruit is pea-sized.

The quality of Petitgrain depends on various factors:
1. The leaf material should originate exclusively from the bitter or sour Orange tree.
2. The leaf material should not contain any wooden branches, nor any small unripe fruit (despite the name and although it was the original Petitgrain).
3. The leaf material should be distilled rapidly and with direct steam that is generated in a separate boiler. The leaves must not be immersed in water, as this will cause hydrolysis of the linalyl acetate which is the most important constituent. Properly distilled the oil and hydrosol will have a high ester content.
4. The plants of Southern France bloom in May and June and these flowers used for Neroli production. While the leaves and petioles for Petitgrain are harvested from the pruning after the Neroli harvest which is from late June to October

Yields ~ are 0.25-0.5%.

PETITGRAIN COUNTRIES OF ORIGINS ~: Oil of Petitgrain was originally distilled in Paraguay and is now also distilled in Egypt, France, Italy, Morocco, USA. However, in Paraguay the plant that is distilled is a hybrid of the sweet and the bitter Orange that has gone wild and thus the oil and hydrosol is considered to be of lower quality. Main producing areas are the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Corsica, Sicily, etc. and California, Florida and South America, each of these countries produce citrus oils that are organoleptically identifiable.

Black and white photos of gathering bitter Orange leaves in 1919. From Scientific American — **Gathering Leaves**

Gathering Bitter Orange leaves in 1919. Pictures from 1919 Scientific American of the
Gathering of the leaves of the bitter-orange. For Petitgrain Scent

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EDEN BOTANICALS HARVEST LOCATION ~ Egypt and Morocco

ENDANGERED OR NOT ~ Not Currently

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ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS

**Petitgrain Oils – Oils courtesy of Alpha Research and Eden Botanicals**

Petitgrain oils. See the different colors of the oil that are available.

ODOR DESCRIPTION/ AROMA ASSESSMENT ~ Petitgrain has a strong, bitter-sweet, floral and somewhat woody odor, sometimes vegetative (not-pleasant), dry and a bit leathery. The woody smell is from the sesquiterpene alcohol, spathulenol. Aldehydes contribute to the odorous principle, even though they are in small amounts. Another important constituent is the pyrazines with their Galbanum-like green notes. It is important to mention that the trace components in Petitgrain leads to a good scent and especially in perfumery where they are important or when

the scent needs to be reconstituted. Petitgrain bigarade is used in perfumes for its refreshing, sweet-floral notes and often as a substitute for Neroli.

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Learn to Smell and Detect Odor: Limbic system is the seat of memory and learning. Smell from left nostril and then to right nostril. The right nostril (right brain-creative) is important in detecting and evaluating the intensity of odor, and this hints at a broad olfactory asymmetry and the left nostril (left brain or logical) is for smelling location or place.

First Smell and 2^nd Smell: “Lurking in the olfactory epithelium, among the mucus-exuding cells, are cells that are part of the system that innervates the face (trigeminal nerve). It is suspected that pungent and putrid molecules penetrate them, interact with their proteins, and stimulate them to fire. Thus, there are two types of olfaction: first smell, the ordinary type for specific odors, and second smell for nonspecific pungency and putridity.”

There is also left brain and right brain smell-ability. Left brain smells location (maybe via logical use of EMG waves) while right brain smells intensity. The closer you get – the more intense the odor.

Symbol of perfume rising up — **Rising Up**

[see the Circular Vocabulary of Odor© at the end for an analyses of Petitgrain sampled]

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CHEMISTRY COMPONENTS OF PETITGRAIN ~ 80% of the yield is made up of linalyl acetate and linaloöl in a proportion of 2:1. The woody smell is from the sesquiterpene alcohol, spathulenol. Aldehydes contribute to the odorous principle, even though they are in small amounts. Another important constituent is the pyrazines with their Galbanum-like green notes. It is important to mention that the trace components in Petitgrain leads to a good scent and especially in perfumery where they are important. The best Petitgrain is distilled from Bitter Orange leaves with noted laevorotation of the molecule, that lovely sour smell that is so fragrant, and not from sweet Oranges where the oil will have a dextro- (sweet) rotation and thus a different odor.

Physiochemical Properties: The quality of Petitgrain oil can be evaluated by its physicochemical properties. Here are the properties of genuine Petitgrain distilled in Southern France as outlined in Guenther’s work. …

Comparison of Main Components: The high amount of ester in the form of linalyl acetate lends the fruity odor to the oil while various amounts of the other components lend the personality to each of the different types of Petitgrain. Chemical Components are 80% made up of linalyl acetate and linaloöl in a proportion of 2:1 and limonene, dipentene, citral and others.

Linalyl Acetate chemical molecule

Solubility of Petitgrain Bigarade ~ Soluble in 2.8 to 4.5 volumes of 70% alcohol, rarely with opalescence, but often with some precipitation. — Guenther

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GENERAL PROPERTIES of PETITGRAIN

Antispasmodic, tonic and astringent

Properties and Uses of Petitgrain ~ Inhaled to ease the nervous system and soothe nerves that stimulate the muscles; used in skin care properties for excessive acne, to reduce excessive perspiration and in shampoo and soap for greasy hair and skin. It is a great toner to all body care products. Wonderful in woody or fougére perfumes.

Can be used as part of an aphid insecticide. Natural essential oils such as coriander oil and petitgrain oil may be useful in the control of foxglove aphid (A. solani). After application of these oils mortality of the pest was significant and amounted to 81.20-99.47% and 89.80-99.50%, respectively (72 hours after treatment).

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What does Jeanne Rose use this EO for? I like to take a tablespoon of unscented cleanser or oil and add 1 drop of Petitgrain EO, especially the low-intensity Petitgrain oil, such as Bigerade and mix these and apply to my skin. Then I take a warm washcloth and touch it to my face to warm the skin, and then rinse, rinse, rinse with warm water. My skin feels clean and ready for the day.

Application/ Skincare: A useful antiseptic, it kills bacteria on the skin and works well in cleansers. It can leave the skin feeling clean and reduces acne.

a Jeanne Rose Recipe for Aftershave Therapy for Men

4 drops of Lavender oil
4 drops of Bergamot
4 drops of Petitgrain
3 drops of Atlas Cedar oil
Make your synergy and succuss.
Dilute to your specifications or as follows, Add 90 drops carrier oil, lotion or alcohol to dilute to = 12% EO

Diffuse/Diffusion: Petitgrain can be diffused by itself or in any blend. It lends a tart citrus or green quality and the air feels clean. It soothes the nervous system, is antispasmodic and is inhaled for “nervous exhaustion or stress.” — 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols, p. 127

Emotional/Energetic Use: Inhaled for nervous exhaustion, fatigue or stress. Inhale to wake-up and to be more positive.

leaves of Lemon tree that yield Lemon Petitgrain with a small fruit — **Lemon Petitgrain from Lemon leaves and small fruit. photo by Jill Mulvaney**

PERFUMERY AND BLENDING ~ Petitgrain Blends Best with: Bergamot and all types of Citrus and other Petitgrain citrus, Clary Sage, Clove, Atlas Cedar, Lemon Eucalyptus, Frankincense, scented (Pelargonium) Geranium, jasmine. Juniper CO₂, Labdanum, Lavender, Oakmoss, Palmarosa, Patchouli, all types of Rose, Rosemary, Sage, and any floral, and Ylang Ylang.

BLENDING WITH A JEANNE ROSE FORMULA

See https://Jeanne-blog.com/gourmet-perfumery

Solid Tuberose Perfume Formula #2 – Jeanne Rose 2003
Another Formula is: 1/2 oz. Tuberose wax and 1/2 oz. Lavender infused Oil. Melt in a 1 oz. jar in a water bath – slowly and carefully. When the wax is melted add the following scents: 15 drops Jasmine, 15 drops Ylang extra, 15 drops Vanilla, 15 drops Petitgrain Mandarin and 3 drops Vetivert. If you have it, you can also add 3-5 drops Tuberose to bring up the caramel scent. Stir gently, let it sit until cool and solid.

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HERBAL USES OF PETITGRAIN AND LEAVES OF CITRUS ~ You make an herbal infusion of the leaves of any citrus tree for a nice relaxing herbal bath and add a few drops of Petitgrain to enhance the scent. This is always a special treat.

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Key Use: Inhale to soothe panic and use externally for clean skin; that is, inhaled for the nervous system and use in your body-care products.

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JEANNE ROSE’S “TOMATO TALES” OF PETITGRAIN

~ ORANGE FLOWER AND PETITGRAIN DISTILLATION. At the end of March 2003, I had the opportunity to distill 5 pounds of pure Orange Flowers for Sweet Neroli Hydrosol obtained from organically grown sweet naval Orange, variety Atwood. The balance of the leaves and flowers was then sent to another distiller for the Orange Flower and Petitgrain hydrosol.
The trees were grown in the foothills edging the great central valley of California near the town of Lindsay. The trees are grown organically, at 500 feet with a west exposure in full sun and the area is certified organic. The area is irrigated via the San Joaquin river. The soil is USDA Porterville cobbly clay. There is about 12 inches of rainfall per year. The harvest was on Wednesday 3/25/03 from about 15 trees. Harvest weather was overcast to full sun, about 75° F and 30% humidity. It took 3 hours for each of two persons (6 total) to fill 13 five-gallon buckets with twigs and flowers. This was transported to San Francisco and arrived on Thursday. Each tree produced about 1 bucket (3.3 lbs./bucket) of easily available twigs with flowers. This effectively gently pruned the tree of excess flowers and will leave it able to produce more and tastier Oranges.
We started with 43 pounds of twiglets that had blossoms and buds attached. It took 3-man hours (1 hour for 3 persons) to pick off the flowers and to accumulate the 5 pounds of just-opened flowers. The fragrance was sweet, intense, floral and fruity with some green back notes. The balance of the leaves and flowers (38 pounds) was sent to the larger stainless-steel unit, 1-hour north. The leaves were kept above the water and must not be immersed in water, as this will cause the hydrolysis of linalyl acetate. A 4-inch copper tube was added to the gooseneck. Two hours of distillation produced 12 gallons of hydrosol. pH began at 5, the scent being green and citrus and as the distillation continued, pH became more acid to 4.4, the scent becoming more rich, citrus and spicy. 3 ml of essential oil was produced from the 38 pounds of twigs and flowers.

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NOT ORGANIC AND IN THE SMOG ~ This is only one distillation that I experienced with citrus flowers/or leaves. Another that I did was in southern California where I was invited to an abandoned Orange grove that was left in the middle of a nexus of freeways. The citrus tree leaves were covered with dust, dirt and smog. My students and I (we were 14 in all), cut branches and sat in a circle picking off the leaves and individually dusting and then washing each leaf. It took several hours to do this. I set up my still with a screen inside to lift the leaves up and off of the boiling water and we steam-distilled the freshly cleaned leaves. Petitgrain must be steam-distilled and not hydro-distilled to prevent the hydrolysis of the linalyl acetate which is the most important constituent. Properly distilled the oil and hydrosol will have a high ester content. The smell was spectacular but since the Orange grove was located in the middle of a freeway, I cautioned everyone to smell but not use the distillate.

HYDROSOL ~ In 2003, we distilled 38 lbs. of leaves and twigs of Petitgrain hydrosol. This was a wonderful hydrosol, very fragrant and sweet. It was used in skin care products and simply as a mister. Several misting products were produced using the hydrosol. Mixed 50/50 with Spearmint hydrosol produced a very refreshing and fragrant fruity, citrus mint hydrosol. Fabulous to use. If the organic citrus farmers of central California would collect and distill leaves and twigs of their sweet Orange crop, they would have a value-added product in the way of sweet Petitgrain hydrosol.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh

HISTORICAL USES ~ Petitgrain is used since the 1700s in the Perfumery industry. It lends a citrus woody note to perfumes.

HISTORY & INTERESTING INFORMATION ~ “Petitgrain from Citrus aurantium: Essential Oil of Paraguay” by Daniel Gade — EcoBot 33(1), 1979, pp. 63-71

Some Petitgrain history — **Petitgrain History**

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CONTRAINDICATIONS: It is not like other citrus oils as it is steam-distilled and not cold-pressed and thus is not photosensitive. Only contraindications are if you have already sensitivities to citrus oils.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: GRAS – generally recognized as safe.

A Snapshot of Petitgrain Odor

**Mandarin Petitgrain & Paraguay Petitgrain Odor Snapshot**

Odor Snapshot of Petitgrain sur Fleur and Petitgrain Absolute

**Petitgrain Odor Snapshots of 4 kinds of Petitgrain essential oil**

Using the Advanced Vocabulary of Odor to describe the scent of Mandarin Petitgrain leaves by Jeanne Rose. For further study with Jeanne Rose and to learn the Vocabulary of Odor enroll in class, April 2020. See /calendar.html

References
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Arctander. 1960
Gorski, R., Kania, A. Influence of coriander and petitgrain oils on the mortality of foxglove aphid (Aulacorthum solani Kalt.) occurring on tobacco.
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publishing. Florida. 1976
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol. IAG Botanics. 2015 (supporter of testing hydrosols)
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose. San Francisco California, 1992
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Mojay, Gabriel. Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1999.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California:

Petitgrain absolute ~ lovely perfume ingredient from Eden Botanicals

Originally, Petitgrain EO, which means “small seed” was actually distilled from the immature and small, round green fruits of the Citrus trees. Of course, if you distill the fruits then there will be no mature fruit to eat or preserve. So eventually, the distillation was limited to the leaves and small branchlets, but the oil is still called Petitgrain.

Floral Floral Perfume

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Chart of current Citrus names — **Current correct Latin Names of the Citrus**

~JR~

SOME CAUTIONS TO REMEMBER

Essential Oil Safe Precautions

**Photo courtesy of Rana Sohail citrus**

ORANGE & Blood Orange EO

Jul17

Orange ~ A description of sweet Orange/Blood Orange fruit, country of origin, characteristics, Jeanne Rose skin care, formulas and recipes on how to use this famous, important oil.

20-year Collection of Orange Oil. Sweet Orange & Blood Orange

ORANGE ESSENTIAL OIL/HYDROSOL PROFILE

By Jeanne Rose ~ July 2019

ORANGE. LATIN BINOMIAL AND NAMING ~ Citrus x aurantium. In the past it was called Citrus aurantium, C. aurantium var. sinensis, C. sinensis and C. x sinensis with the ‘C’ always meaning Citrus. We are discussing the sweet Orange and Blood Orange and not the Bitter Orange that was covered in the blog-post on Neroli. The orange is a hybrid between pomelo (Citrus maxima) as the female parent and mandarin (Citrus reticulata).

Yes, I know that this is the same exact name as is used for Clementine and Grapefruit and Bitter Orange-Neroli. But there are strict rules on naming and citrus has been examined and analyzed for parentage for quite some time.

Citrus taxonomy is confusing and often inconsistent. They are all named with Latin and common names. They often have the same parentage but have different physiologic forms or formae often based on terroir (such as Mandarin in Italy and Tangerine in the USA) or scent chemistry such as (limonene which has a chiral difference — both a left turning molecule, (S) for sinistral with the sour smell of Lemon or Bitter Orange and a right turning molecule, (R) for right hand or clockwise, the sweet smell of Oranges). This is the reason we all as lovers of essential oils and aromatherapy need to learn some chemistry along with good taxonomy.

Family – Rutaceae

ORANGE. HISTORY, DESCRIPTION, & COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN ~ The Orange is not known in the wild and is assumed to have originated in southern China, maybe India and Indochina. The sweet Orange was mentioned in Chinese history as early as 300 B.C. It was carried to the Mediterranean by traders around 1500. Blood Oranges originated in Sicily and Spain in the 18^th century and there are many varieties. Their pigment originates from anthocyanins. They often have intense sweet flavor with a hint of Raspberry.

I have always wondered whether the color was named after the fruit or was the fruit named after the color? Today I found out that the color orange was named after the fruit, not the other way around. Before then, the English-speaking world referred to the orange color as geoluhread, which literally translates to “yellow-red.” —Wikipedia

“The Color Orange Was Named After the Citrus Fruit Orange.”

Picture of oranges, Moro Blood Orange taken in February — **Moro Blood Orange in February**

General description of plant, habitat & growth ~ This is a small, evergreen tree with a deliciously sweet pulp, dark green leaves and white flowers. The sweet Orange is a hybrid between the maternal line of the Pomelo (Citrus maxima) and the Mandarin (Citrus reticulata) and varieties of sweet Orange arise through mutations as the sweet Orange reproduces asexually.

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To see a chart of the five pure origin Citrus genus, please see the Mandarin Jeanne-blog post.

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Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods ~ The peel oil is either cold-pressed or steam-distilled. If it is steam-distilled it will be a lighter color and have less of the fruity citrus odor of cold-pressed Orange. Commercially, Orange oil can also be extracted from the juice during the juicing process. Sometimes sweet Orange leaves and flowers are also distilled and that is called Petitgrain and sweet Orange flower oil.

Yield ~ Orange peel oil yields up to 0.5% by cold-pressing.

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Organoleptic Characteristics of Various Orange Oil in 2019

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Orange Essence is from juice; Orange wild is from the Dominican Republic from trees that have reverted to a wild state; Orange sweet is from the United States and Blood Orange from Italy.

4 Types of Orange Oil

ORANGE ODOR DESCRIPTION ~ EO Odor is citrus, fruity and spicy. There is also an herbaceous quality to the wild Orange that would be a lovely addition in a citrus perfume. Blood Orange is very rich and more intense than the others with a better tenacity in the blend or the perfume. The odor of any Orange peel or Orange essence is dependent on its chemistry.

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“Sweet Orange peel oil is the most important of the citrus oils. It yields up to 0.5% by cold pressing. It is mainly produced in the south of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Florida and Brazil. (+)-Limonene is the main constituent of this oil and has sweet scent and taste. The aldehyde content of Sweet Orange oil is the measure of the oil. The preferred Valencia oil possesses up to 3% aldehydes. One of which is decadienal with an extremely high aroma value. Other constituents that contribute to the character and quality of Orange oil are the sinensal. x-sinensal has a high orange aroma scent and low odor threshold while b-sinensal has a metallic-fishy note that can be very objectionable.

The difference between Orange and Grapefruit oil can be as simple as the amount of (+)-valencene. When the amount of a-terpineol exceeds normal level, off-notes occur. This terpineol forms during the aging or oxidation of orange juice. (Some essential oil of Orange is indeed produced from Orange Juice). The acetates contribute to the floral notes of Orange oil.”^{1 —}also from the Blending Book.

The taste of Orange flesh and juice is determined mainly by the relative ratios of sugars and acids and its ripeness when eaten. It can be sweet, tangy, tart, deep and tasty, and combinations of all of these and this taste is reflected in the odor or it might be better to say that the odor is reflected in the taste.

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CHEMICAL COMPONENTS ~ D-Limonene (the sweet one), N-Decylic Aldehyde, Linaloöl, Terpineol, and B-Carotene. Limonene is the most abundant compound of monoterpene hydrocarbons for all the examined juices of Blood Orange, Sweet Orange, Lemon, Bergamot and Bitter Orange and with the important difference that mirror images of this molecule changes the odor and taste. In the citrus peels, Limonene, a compound of the terpene family, is present in the essential oil of citrus peel. The limonene structure has a chiral center, and thus it is found in nature as a mirror-image, two types, the (R)- and (S)-limonene. Isomer (R)- has the characteristic sweet smell of Oranges, while the (S)- smells like the sour of Lemons or bitter Orange. (R) is clockwise or right hand and (S) is counterclockwise or sinistral- left hand.

“Sweet Orange peel oil is the most important of the citrus oils. It yields up to 0.5% by cold pressing. It is mainly produced in the south of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Florida and Brazil. (+)-Limonene is the main constituent of this oil also called the (R or right-hand isomer). The aldehyde content of Sweet Orange oil is the measure of the oil. The preferred Valencia oil possesses up to 3% aldehydes. One of which is decadienal with an extremely high aroma value. Other constituents that contribute to the character and quality of Orange oil are the sinensal. X-sinensal has a high orange aroma scent and low odor threshold while b-sinensal has a metallic-fishy note that can be very objectionable.

There are many synonyms for the sweet limonene including, d-limonene, D-Limonene, (+)-Limonene, (R)-(+)-Limonene, (R)-limonene and others.

Solubility ~ Incompletely soluble in 95% alcohol up to 10 volumes. Some Orange oil is soluble in in a quarter to half that amount.

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HISTORICAL USES ~ Digestive and flavoring. “The Color Orange Was Named After the Fruit.” Today I found out orange was named after the fruit, not the fruit named after the color. Before then, the “English-speaking world referred to the orange color as geoluhread, which literally translates to ‘yellow-red’.” —Wikipedia

Sweet Orange & Blood Orange Oils – courtesy of Eden Botanicals — Sweet Orange and Blood Orange Oils — courtesy of Eden Botanicals

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INTERESTING FACTS ~ Peel pulp and fruit pulp contains vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. The peel oil does not contain vitamins – so don’t drink it. Originated in China. The oil is used for flavoring food, drink, and confectionery, Curacao type liqueurs and for flavoring cigarette paper. The Orange tree was taken to the West Coast of America by Franciscan monks, who began the cultivation of it there. The cold-pressed peel oil protects against insect damage when added to furniture polish and is used in termite eradication.

Valencia oranges have thin skins, a few seeds, and are very juicy and are considered the best for juicing.

Blood Orange is not quite as sweet as the sweet Orange. The red color comes anthocyanin, a type of flavonoid. It’s believed that this coloring was the result of a mutation between the blond oranges and of Valencia’s and Navels.

If you want to read 70 pages on the sweet Orange, blossom, oil and water, that would be volume III , pages 118-197 of The Essential Oils by Guenther. Fascinating and full of discovery.

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ORANGE PROPERTIES

GENERAL PROPERTIES OF ESSENTIAL OIL ~ In general, the oil of Orange is slightly antiseptic, antispasmodic, a slight diuretic, sometimes a depurative (purifying), stomachic, cholagogue (promotes the discharge of bile); when inhaled is can be calming and sedating; and in skin care or by external application it has antiseptic properties.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES & HOW USED (IG OR AP) ~ Application in skin care products and for disinfection. Internally by-the-drop in orange juice, it is taken as a diuretic, for constipation, obesity, bronchitis, colds, ‘flu, and to eliminate toxins.

Physical Uses & How Used ~ Application (AP) – Orange oil goes nicely into many blends that are used for skincare. It would be a middle note to other aromatic oils and blends well with many. In lotions and creams, it has a slight antiseptic quality as well as the aromatic sunshiny scent.

Ingestion (IG) – Don’t. Drink the juice instead and dry and keep the peels for your bath.

Inhalation (IN) – Orange oil is relaxing by inhalation , especially when mixed with some of your other favorites such as Lavender, Spikenard, Jasmine, and many more.

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Skin Care Formulas are available in my 350-page Herbal Body Book that is chock-full of great skin, hair, and body care formulas. Here is one I have always enjoyed.

Corny Honey Peeler for Face or Body

Mix together 1 tablespoon each of Cornmeal and Orange flower honey. Mix these together in the palm of your hand and then apply to a steamed and cleansed face using small circular motions. When the honey is tacky, apply a thin layer of yogurt (or buttermilk will do) over the top, take a bath or shower and remove when rinsing — first with warm and then with cool water. Your skin will be smooth and bright.

sweet California Navel Oranges in February — **Sweet California Navel Oranges in February**

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EMOTIONAL PROPERTIES (AP OR IN) ~ Inhaled for nervousness and anxiety.

Emotional/Energetic Uses ~ Used by inhalation for nervous exhaustion, obsessions, to stimulate the appetite, to improve your self-image by boosting self-confidence, and assist with concentration. Orange peel oil can also be used in a blend via application (as in massage or topical use) for these emotional and energetic states.

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DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ You can add Orange peel/Blood Orange to any blend for diffusion. It does two things: it is rather inexpensive and brings down the price of the entire blend and it adds the sparkly sunny Orange odor to any combination of scents. A great way to refresh the air of your home.

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EATING ORANGES ~ For starters, not only is an orange a delicious fruit to snack on whenever or daily, but its health benefits are an added perk. They contain vitamin C, fiber and potassium. Eating Oranges promotes healthier and more beautiful skin, better eyesight, reduces the chances of a stroke, assists in weight loss, and helps keep our blood vessels healthy. Eating one Orange, one Apple, one Tomato, and one Carrot every day supplies the correct types of fiber into your diet.

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HERBAL USES ~ My best suggestion for using Orange oil externally is not too. That is, use the peel itself herbally. See below. But just in case you don’t know how, here are some obvious choices.

I have been happily using Orange flowers and Orange peel for over 50 years. the sweet Orange peel is dried, cut, and added to bath herb mixtures as an aromatic and antiseptic stimulant. This peel, cut & sifted (CS), makes any bath into a pleasure. The powdered peel can be mixed with any liquid and used as a facial mask — I like it with Almond meal or powdered Oatmeal. An infusion of the peel is also helpful as an addition to your shampoo to reduce oiliness and in the herbal rinse as well. Refer to Jeanne Rose Herbal Body Book for hundreds more uses to add to your knowledge.²

The powdered peel sifted is also mixed with baking soda or other drying agents and used as an underarm deodorant. It does not stop the perspiration, but it does make it pleasant when you are out and about working and especially in the garden, this mixture is repellent to bugs.

A box made from orange peel turned inside out and a candle made from Orange peel with Olive oil. — **Orange peel box and Orange peel Olive Oil candle**

Orange peel box and Orange peel Olive oil candle

Orange Peel Box. You can also make small boxes out of the peeled flavedo (skin). Cut Orange in half, scoop out the flesh and eat that, soak the skin in water for several hours, turn skin inside out and place over a mold or copper tubing (copper kills bacteria). Let dry over the mold. Then remove. Make sure they are very dry before you polish with a silk polishing cloth and then fill the box with potpourri, snuff or jewelry, and make sure that the top fits over the bottom. My own hand-made boxes never looked quite as ‘finished’ as the ones that I purchased in the ’80s.

Orange Peel Candle. Halved, defleshed Oranges can also be made into Olive Oil lamps. Keep the inner stem intact as you remove the juicy flesh as that is your wick. Fill the peel with olive oil and light the wick. Olive oil works best because of the high burning point, if it happens to spill, the oil drowns out the flame and thus your wooden house won’t go up in flames. It probably also is wise to place the Orange on a non-burnable base like a piece of tile.

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I also use thin-skinned Oranges at the end of the season when they are pithier – somewhere around July – and I make pomanders — those medieval objects that are used to decorate the Christmas tree or to put into a bowl and fragrance the room. Yes, it is best to make pomanders in the months of July-August when you have a bit of time before the holidays and so that the pomander can cure by the time Christmas arrives. Pomanders are made with thin-skinned pithy Oranges (or whatever you have) and stuck full of Cloves very close together. As the pomander dries, the skin shrinks, the Cloves get closer together, preserves the Orange and the fragrant scent of Orange/Clove fills the air. They take a month or so to cure. They are easy but sometimes time-consuming to make.

An Orange stuck with cloves, dried and tied with a ribbon as a pomander. — **Orange and Clove Pomander Ball**
**for Scent**

HYDROSOL ~ There is not much nicer application in the morning than a spray of Orange or Blood Orange hydrosol on your face or in the air around you. It feels refreshing and sunshiny – a good morning tonic for the skin. Orange and Blood Orange hydrosol is a facial toner and can be added to thick creams to thin them and they can be incorporated into all types of body care formulas. Blood Oranges have red colored flesh and sweet, berry-like notes that extend into the hydrosol.

Orange Hydrosol Limerick
A spray with sweet Orange hydrosol
Will make you feel good and feel tall
It will sweeten your skin
And will heal your sore chin
And heal anything short of a fall…JeanneRose2014

Positively Aromatic and Lancaster Creations are my special sources for the best citrus hydrosols. And Sandra Shuff, who owns Positively Aromatic, says her husband Douglas sprays Blood Orange hydrosol onto their salads to make a very special taste and these salads are really delicious. I sometimes forget how easy it is to use hydrosols on food — ‘a simple spray and away you go’.

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HYDROSOL — PLEASE NOTE ~ A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

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KEY USE ~ Oil of Refreshment

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BLENDING ~ Sweet Orange oil blends with just about anything. Be sure of what you have as there is also Bitter Orange Oil and wild Orange from the Dominican Republic (oranges that are not cultivated and allowed to revert to the wild state). Try the different Orange oils with these: herbal oils like Angelica root, Clary Sage, Patchouli, Spearmint, Sage, Rosemary, Marjoram, Thyme; evergreen oils such as Juniper berry, Pine, and Spruce; all the citrus oils such as Bergamot, Grapefruit, lemon, Lime, Mandarin, Petitgrain (these have all been written about in the jeanne-blog; the florals of Chamomile, Rose Geranium, Lavender, Mimosa, Rose, Jasmine, Vanilla; the spicy oils like Black Pepper, Caraway, Cardamom, Cinnamon; all the resinous oils such as Cistus/Labdanum, Spikenard [the resinous oils have also been discussed at length both specifically and in general (see https://jeanne-blog.com/resin-resinoids-gums-eo/)]; and with the many CO₂extracts that can be used in blends , skin care and perfumery.

Arctander who wrote Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin, mentions that Orange oil is used “as an odor-masking agent, … In perfumes, old-fashioned eau de colognes, fern perfumes, Chypres, “fruity” and citrus perfumes.” Just remember that Orange is not very tenacious in a perfume and in a few weeks can get lost and the perfume scent will change.

Citrus Scent Notes ~ Citrus oils are used in the perfumery business to impart a fresh, sparkling note to any blend. They are usually not overpowering. They can be used in up to 25% as the base for classic type of eau de cologne. Citrus oils harmonize with many other essential oils and they are used in different concentrations in almost all scent blends and modern perfumes.

In combination with Lavender oil, citrus oils are the basis for English Lavender, which is an 1826 creation. High concentrations of citrus oils are in Chanel No. 5 (1921). Also, of importance are the citrus oils in pop drinks like Coca-Cola and others.

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PERFUMERY ~ Orange peel oil has much use in perfumery. Here is a formula from 1867.

Eau De Portugal
Neutral Grape Spirits at least 60 % …. 1 quart
Orange Peel zest oil … ½ oz
Bergamot Peel Oil … ¼ oz
Rose otto oil … ½ dram (2 ml)
Rinse all your cologne bottles with the spirits before filling with the Eau de Portugal.
— The Art of Perfumery by Piesse

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sweet Orange essential oil

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A SCIENCE ARTICLE ..— NUTRITIVE AND MEDICINAL VALUE OF CITRUS FRUITS by Milind S. Ladaniya, in Citrus Fruit, 2008 “ ….. ….. Organic acids present in citrus fruits, such as citric acid, malic acid, oxalic acid, succinic acid, and malonic acid also provide calories, and are easily metabolized as they are the part of metabolic pathways in the human body. Citrus fruits do not increase the body’s acid content. These acids are very mild compared to the hydrochloric acid present in stomach. Most of the acids are present in the form of salts of potassium (with K or Na cation). Sodium and potassium are alkaline metals; their salts are excreted by the body in the form of sweat or urine. …..”

∞

References:

¹Ohloff, Günther. Scent and Fragrances, The Fascination of Odors. Springer-Verlag.
²Rose, Jeanne. . /books.html
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Elizabeth, NJ. 1960
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publishing Company, FL. 1974. Guenther treatise on Orange Oil covers almost …….80 pages and should be read by anyone who truly has an interest in essential oils in general and Orange oil.
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol, 1^st edition, 2015, IAG Botanics
Mabberley, D.J., Mabberley’s Plant Book, 2008 3rd Edition 2014 updates, Cambridge University Press
Ladaniya, Milind S. • NUTRITIVE AND MEDICINAL VALUE OF CITRUS FRUITS. Citrus Fruit, 2008
Piesse, G.W. Septimus. The Art of Perfumery and the Methods of Obtaining Odors from Plants. PA. 1867.
Rawlinson, Gloria. The Perfume Vendor. Hutchinson & Co. 1937.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols.
Rose, Jeanne. The Blending Class Booklet. Available from the author at /books.html
Rose, Jeanne. Natural Botanical Perfumery. Available from the author at /
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations.
www.EdenBotanicals.com. 2019

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Current Names for Citrus

Orange flowers

Scent Rising up

Scent Rising Up

NEROLI Oil/Hydrosol

Jun18

NEROLI. Essential Oil/Hydrosol Profile

By Jeanne Rose ~ June 2019

Neroli. ~ A description of Bitter Orange/Neroli flower, country of origin, characteristics, Jeanne Rose skin care, formulas and recipes on how to use this famous, important oil

6 different Neroli oils — **Pretty Neroli oil — hydro-steam distilled – Eden Botanicals Essential Oil**

Neroli. Common Name/Latin Binomial ~ Citrus x aurantium L, also called C. amara, C. aurantium ssp. Amara, C. iyo. It Is a cross between Citron and of C. reticulata (Mandarin) + C. maxima (Pomelo) as the female parent. The ‘x’ in the middle of any Latin binomial simply means that the plant is a cross and in this case several types of Citrus were crossed to eventually become “Bitter Orange”. There are many backcrosses in this group of Bitter Orange/Neroli.
To see a chart of the five pure origin Citrus genus, please see the Mandarin Jeanne-blog post.

Family ~ Rutaceae, the Citrus family

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Neroli Limerick
There is a citrus flower Neroi
It is grown in the Garden Filoli
It rings all my bells
With such heavenly smells
And sure, makes me feel all holy! … JeanneRose2012

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Neroli. History & Countries of Origin ~ Native to Europe and Siberia naturalized worldwide.

It seems that the bitter or sour orange is a native of China in the southeastern part of Asia. From there it spread out to India and Iran. The Romans did not know it and it was introduced to the Mediterranean area around 1000 A.D. by the Arabs and this bitter Orange was the only one known for about 500 years. Did those expert distillers and alchemists, the Moors, distill bitter Orange to get the water or the essential oil? We don’t know. The lovely Neroli oil was first mentioned by J.B. della Porta in 1563 for the Princess of Neroli.

Neroli Naming History ~ Who is Neroli? “By the end of the 17th century, Anne Marie Orsini, the princess of Nerola, Italy, introduced the essence of bitter Orange tree as a fashionable fragrance by using it to perfume her gloves and her bath. Since then, the term “neroli” has been used to describe this essence.”

a bitter orange flower blossom — **Bitter Orange flower**

Neroli. Bitter Orange. General description of plant, habitat & growth ~ The bitter Orange tree that produces Neroli essential oil is very close in appearance to the sweet Orange. However, they may look similar but the fruit they produce is different. Bitter Orange produces a bitter flesh and pungent sweet essential oil (called Neroli) while sweet Orange has a sweet flesh and markedly different essential oil (called sweet Orange oil). This orange is used as a rootstock in groves of sweet orange and if the sweet Orange can go wild, the bitter Orange rootstock will often take over and the subsequent fruit will be sour and the flowers sweet like Neroli. The tree has a long-life span, up to 100 years. They are propagated by seed and/or grafting onto a disease-resistant rootstock; the young trees are planted out in April-May; they are well taken care of throughout their life and early evening or nighttime irrigation is most important in the early years to set good roots. The flowers are harvested from late April to June when the buds just begin to open and in their early years were done according to herbal principals, “harvest in the morning when the dew is dry but before the sun is high”. Now harvesting often goes on until noon particularly on warm sunny days. If the flowers are picked when closed, the odor of the oil is ‘green’, but these yield a strong Neroli water.

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Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods & yield ~ Bud blossoms of the true bitter (sour) orange tree, Citrus x aurantium Linnaeus, (subsp. Amara) L., on being distilled yield Neroli bigarade oil. If, on the other hand, the leaves and petioles (leaf stalk) are distilled, oil and hydrosol of Petitgrain Bigarade is obtained. Flowers of Bitter orange must not be mixed with the flowers of sweet Orange as the properties , specific gravity and chemistry are different.

THE flowers are harvested from March to May and hydro-distilled for the Neroli oil and hydrosol. > The flowers are hydro-distilled not steam-distilled and must float freely in the distillation waters (just like Roses and Ylang-Ylang).

In North Africa, the bulk of the flower harvest is hydro-distilled, and the balance extracted with volatile solvents which yields concrete and absolute of orange flowers as well as a floral wax.

Neroli floral wax

YIELD ~ 850 kg of carefully picked Orange flowers yields 1 kg of Neroli oil after steam distillation. Or 1 kg of Orange blossoms yields about 1 g. of Neroli oil and this oil is affected by the atmospheric conditions when it is distilled. The small, white, waxy flowers from the citrus tree are hydro-steam distilled.
Yield: 0.8-1.0%.

2003 . Jeanne Rose Harvesting Orange flowers — 2003. Harvesting Neroli flowers near Fresno at Olsen Organic Farm

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Neroli Oil . ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS

Organoleptic characteristics of 4 neroli oils compared — **4 Neroli oils compared**

Neroli Odor Description ~ Neroli has a refreshing and distinctive, strong floral aroma with powdery and aldehydic notes, very fresh with a warm base note that resembles freshly dried hay. Because of the high price of Neroli it is ever more frequently diluted or adulterated with aromatic isolates, and synthetic odors or with Petitgrain. It can somewhat resemble Petitgrain in its odor as often Petitgrain is used to adulterate Neroli oil. (see Odor Snapshots at the end of the article).

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CHEMICAL COMPONENTS ~ Neroli contains l-linalyl acetate and l-linalool as well as nerolidol and indole. Ocimenes, limonene, linaloöl and linalyl acetate are higher in Neroli than Petitgrain. Indole which possesses a powerful exotic floral note at high dilution and a somewhat “fresh breast-fed baby shit odor” when not diluted separates and differentiates Neroli from Petitgrain. This indole odor is sometimes very prevalent in the Neroli hydrosol. Methoxypyrazine contributes to a green character, which also is the interesting green note in Galbanum and Green Peppers. Nootkatone is not present in either Petitgrain or in Neroli.

In the citrus peels, Limonene, a compound of the terpene family, is present in the essential oil of citrus peel. The limonene structure has a chiral center, and thus it is found in nature as a mirror-image, two enantiomers the (R)- and (S)-limonene. Isomer (R)- has the characteristic sweet smell of oranges, while the (S)- smells like the sour of lemons or bitter Orange. (R) is clockwise or right hand and (S) is counterclockwise or sinistral- left hand.

Solubility ~ The essential oil is soluble in 1-2 volumes of 80% alcohol and gets hazy to turbid if you add more.

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HISTORICAL USES ~ This tree, Citrus x aurantium, the bitter orange tree produces three different essential oils and a precious hydrosol. Bitter Orange oil comes from the peel of the ripe fruit, Petitgrain oil is distilled from the leaves and twigs, and Neroli oil is hydro-distilled from the flowers of the tree and the precious orange-flower water or Neroli hydrosol is the water of the distillation.

The bitter peel is preserved in sugar and eaten as a sweet with coffee.

Bitter Orange Peel in a jar used as a sweet — **Bitter Orange Peel as a sweet**

The famous eau de cologne was made by Italian perfumer J.M. Farina of Cologne, Germany, who created a blend of essential oils inspired by the princess of Nerola. The blend included Bergamot, Lemon, Bitter Bigarade, Neroli and Rosemary. Cologne water of the most superior and incomparable quality is made by first dissolving the essential oils in the alcohols and then distilling it, then adding the Rosemary and Neroli (water) to the distillate.

INTERESTING FACTS ~ “Neroli was employed as a scent by the prostitutes of Madrid, so they would be recognized by its aroma. On the other hand, the blossoms were worn as a bridal headdress and carried as a bouquet, symbolizing purity and virginity. Together with Lavender, Bergamot, Lemon, and Rosemary oils, Neroli was a key constituent of the classic toilet water eau-de-Cologne” Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit, p.100.

• Fine perfumes can only be made with freshly distilled 70-95% neutral grape spirits. All the older perfumes were diluted down with neutral grape spirits. Originally, they were considered medicines and were taken internally by the drop. After the introduction of synthetics, around 1850, perfumes were made with chemicalized ingredients and were no longer edible. However, even today certain uplifting ‘spirits’ are sold in Europe as a tonic against seasickness, carsickness and all sorts of nausea.

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Neroli so special and sweet
It doesn’t smell like a beet
When I’m nervous or sad
And don’t want to feel bad
I diffuse it and jump to my feet. —jeannerose

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NEROLI PROPERTIES

The properties of Neroli include a quieting calming sedative effect upon inhalation, adding the hydrosol in coffee is calming to the caffeine feeling upon ingestion and the EO used externally in skin-care products is used to soften or as skin-healing scar-reducing tonic use.

Neroli ~ Physical Uses & How used

Application: On hemorrhoids, in skin care, in perfumery. It is especially useful in skin-care products for acne, anti-aging with Galbanum and Elemi, and applied for under-eye circles. The Neroli floral wax is added to creams where it aids in blocking, removing harmful UV rays, has antioxidant properties, is calming and soothing to the skin, helps eliminate dead skin cells, helps reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles, softens skin, tones and soothes sensitive skin and it contains carotenoids and is rich in Vitamin E. Use this floral wax in skin care products such as lotions, creams, sunscreen, balms and for all your anti-aging formulas. There are 1250 flowers = 1 gram of wax.

Ingestion: Take a scant drop in your tea for Insomnia, or for diarrhea. Put a scant drop in a bottle of champagne as an aphrodisiac. Neroli water is used for nervous dyspepsia, abdominal spasm, and colic. Neroli water is good for cranky children when mixed with Orange honey and warm water and drunk.

Inhalation: The oil is inhaled for fatigue, birthing, palpitations, and cardiac spasms.

Neroli ~ Emotional Uses
Application: Apply in a balm on the wrists or back of neck for nervous depression

Inhalation: Inhale the scent for depression, or as a mild sedative that is both joyous and uplifting. It is stabilizing and grounding, soothing, calming and sedating and can alleviate insomnia, PMS, and soothe fever.

Neroli ~ Energetic Uses
Inhalation: It is used for shock, grief, and depression. It is used in blends to increase concentration, to ease the pain of emotional abuse, to ease shocking news, with Frankincense at the death of a loved one, for manic depression of fear of personal change and feelings, for loneliness and grief. The essential oil is truly a friend of the fearful and depressed.

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DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ May be diffused in a child’s room for reducing a temper tantrum, relaxing and assisting in sleep or a ½ teaspoon of the Neroli hydrosol given for insomnia.

all parts of the Bitter Orange with essential oils and hydrosol — **All the parts of the bitter Orange – EO and Hydrosol**

HYDROSOL (Orange Flower WATER) & BITTER ORANGE PEEL Uses ) ~ Neroli hydrosol/water is one of the most important herbal products used in the Middle Eastern world. True Neroli hydrosol is used in Spain and Tunisia in foods as a flavoring agent particularly in baked goods, confectionary and in drinks and it is the hydrosol that is taken for insomnia. The bitter Orange peel is also used as a sweet in Greece and Turkey and is a delicious addition to a variety of desserts such as ice-cream.

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Jeanne Rose distilling Orange flowers — JeanneRose distilling Orange flowers at Olsen Organic Farm – 2003

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NEROLI DISTILLATION TALE

NEROLI HYDROSOL ~ In March 2003, I had the opportunity to distill 5 pounds of organic Orange flowers for sweet Neroli Hydrosol obtained from a sweet naval Orange, variety Atwood in Lindsay, CA. from the Olsen Organic Farm. The balance of the leaves and flowers that we picked was then sent to anther distiller for the Orange Flower and Petitgrain hydrosol. As follows.

The trees were grown in the foothills edging the great central valley of California near the town of Lindsay. The trees are grown organically, at 500 feet with a west exposure in full sun and the area is certified organic. The area is irrigated via the San Joaquin River. The soil is USDA Porterville cobbly clay. There is about 12 inches of rainfall per year. The harvest was on Wednesday 3/25/03 from about 15 trees. Harvest weather was overcast to full sun, about 75°F with 30% humidity. It took 6 hours for two persons to fill 13 five-gallon buckets with twigs and flowers. This was transported to San Francisco and arrived on Thursday. Each tree produced about 1 bucket (3.3 lbs./bucket) of easily available twigs with flowers. This effectively gently pruned the tree of excess flowers and will leave it able to produce more and tastier Oranges.

At the farm on the following Saturday, we started with 43 pounds of twiglets that had blossoms and buds attached. It took 3-man hours (1 hour for 3 persons) to pick off the flowers and to accumulate the 5 pounds of just-opened flowers. The fragrance was sweet, intense, floral and fruity with some green back notes. We assembled the 25-liter copper alembic still and loaded it at 2 pm with 5 lbs. of morning picked flowers and 3 gallons of spring water. The flowers were kept above the bottom of the pot with a grid and freely floating in the boiling water. Distillation ran very well, and the distillate began to run at about 2:15 p.m. We continued the distillation until 5:45 pm at which time 1.5 gallons of Orange flower hydrosol had been accumulated. The pH changed from 6.1 at 2:25 pm to 5.3 at 2:45 pm and continued at 5.3 until the end. The heads (scent) had an odor of fruit, green and floral, the body (scent) was floral, fruity and citrus. Distillation was discontinued when the odor began to get green with no floral or citrus notes.

The balance of the leaves and flowers (38 pounds) that had been picked was sent to the larger stainless-steel unit, 1-hour north. A 4-inch copper tube was added to the gooseneck. Two hours of distillation produced 12 gallons of hydrosol. pH began at 5, the scent being green and citrus and as the distillation continued, pH became more acid to 4.4, the scent becoming more rich, citrus and spicy. 3 ml of essential oil was produced from the 38 pounds of twigs and flowers.

Neroli Hydrosol Use – 2003. This was a wonderful hydrosol, very fragrant and sweet. It was used in skin care products and simply as a mister. Several misting products were produced using the hydrosol. Mixed 50/50 with Spearmint hydrosol produced a very refreshing and fragrant fruity, citrus mint hydrosol. Fabulous…oh how I wish I had some now.f

There are many Neroli hydrosol/Orange flower water products on the market. Many are available in your nearby liquor/bottle store as an addition to beverages. Others are available through your herbal/aromatic stores.

photo of Neroli Hydrosol courtesy of Nature’s Gift

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In the book, Harvest to Hydrosol, is a GC-MS of a Neroli from Canada, 2013, that shows sorbic acid -a natural preservative, and a large amount of a-terpineol and an even larger amount of linalool. What I found most interesting however, was a tiny amount of the unpleasant greasy smelling aldehyde nonanal and may be what makes Neroli excellent for perfumery but not in a deodorant.

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Key Use ~ Neroli is inhaled for depression and fatigue and used extensively in fine perfumery and the hydrosol taken for insomnia.

Rising Up

Neroli. Blending & Perfumery Formulas

Read the Perfumery blog to understand some of the nuances of Perfumery.

BLENDING ~Neroli blends well with just about any oil and especially with other citrus such as Grapefruit and Bergamot; and deeply floral odors such as Champaca, Osmanthus; with woody odors such as all the different Sandalwoods or Tonka bean; seed odors such as Coriander; spicy odors like Cardamom, Nutmeg and Styrax; the resin odors of Frankincense, Galbanum, Balsam of Peru/Tolu;

Neroli is one of the classic ingredients in Eaux de Cologne.

1^st Method: “Cologne water of the most superior and incomparable quality is made by dissolving the essential oils in the alcohols* and then distilling it, then adding the Rosemary oil and Neroli oil to the distillate. The classic eau de cologne contained Bergamot, Lemon, Bitter Bigarade + grape alcohol, Neroli water and either Rosemary hydrosol or Neroli essential oil.”
*This refers only to neutral grape spirits

2^nd Method: Dissolve the aromatics in 95% neutral grape spirits — distill — add the Neroli and the Rosemary. Effect the dilution required with Orange flower water or Rose water by adding up to 8-10 quarts or if the original formula is divided by 10 use 3-4 cups of the floral water.

It is not the number of oils that determines the fineness of a perfume, but the manner in which certain odors are combined — George Askinson

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Maia’s FLORAL-WOODY SCENT
TOP – Neroli 5 – 10 drop
HEART – Rose Bourbonia 10 drops
BASE – Sandalwood Hawaiian 10 drops
Diluent – Cane Alcohol 50 drops

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BROWN SUGAR FORMULA. The essence of brown sugar; sweet and fortifying, uplifting and refreshing. Use as an inhalant or in blends — aftershave, astringent tonics, face wash or a sweet massage.

Smell brown sugar first to establish the scent in your mind and then start blending. Mix together, Lemon, Neroli, Patchouli, Tangerine. Mix these basic scents together in the combination that will most resemble brown sugar.

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FLORAL-FLORAL PERFUME – 9/25/13 (JR)

(the numbers are in drops, by volume not weight)

Top Note – 20 of Lavender abs + 20 of Neroli absolute
bridge to heart note – 2 of Bergamot
Heart Note – 10 of Champaca + 5 of Orange + 20 of Jasmine abs
bridge to the base note – 1 of Cardamom
Base Note – 6 of Patchouli + 6 of Spikenard
Fixative Note of Ambergris (1•100) Make a dilution first and use 1-drop of the Ambergris dilution
To Finish – Add 100-200 drops of grape spirits to dilute. You want the perfume at 25-50%

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NEROLI. JEANNE ROSE EXPERIENCE WITH THIS SCENT.
Here is a lovely Perfume with Amber essence that I call

Perfume Formula called 'My Love — **“My Love” Perfume Formula**

To make this lovely perfume, mix each note separately and let them age for a week. After a week mix the main notes together and then let that age. Then in the 3^rd week, start adding the bridge — all of it or part of it, however you like. Now let that age again. Then add an equal amount of carrier (200 drops). I prefer neutral grape spirits, but you can use a carrier oil if you wish. It just makes a different smelling perfume. Age again and then finally after a month or 5 weeks you will have a fabulous perfume at 50%. You may wish to dilute to 25%.

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a single blosssom

NEROLI • A Favorite Tomato Tale from 1994

At the age of seven, Gloria Rawlinson (1918–1995), the poet, was afflicted with polio. She had been born in Tonga and raised in New Zealand. She was hospitalized for four years as a result of the polio and was bedridden or confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She became a poet of significant achievement, eventually to be crowned the “the child poet of New Zealand” and later to become a biographer of other significant authors. She wrote the Perfume Vendor in 1935, a book of poems heavily influenced with the exotic scents of Tonga and New Zealand. I heard of this talented poet towards the end of her life, about 1990 and was given her book as a gift by a friend. The book is fantastical, child-like, original and a lovely fragrant read. I included her poem of the same name, The Perfume Vendor” in my own book called The Aromatherapy Book that was published in 1992. Around this time, maybe 1993, I was invited to a formal event at the New Zealand Embassy here in San Francisco where I met the Consul General. I had wanted to write a thank-you note to Gloria Rawlinson for the hours of enjoyable reading and I mentioned this to him. We spoke for a moment and he said he would see if her address was available. Several days after the event, I received Ms. Rawlinson address in the mail and promptly wrote her a letter. I am hoping that she received the letter and knew that there were still fans of hers in the United States. She had suffered ill-health for years and died in 1995.

Here is a small part of a poem from the Perfume Vendor …

OH! My place is taken I see—
The other vendors envy me,
The perfume-merchant, Neroli. …..
I am come home
To my scent bazaar,
With the rhizome
Of Iris florentina,
(You call it orris-root)—
Gum-resins, myrrh, opopanax,
Tolu, and sandal-wood, storax
And fifteen ounces of oil of cedar to boot— ……
“Ben Neroli—Ben Neroli—
Will you please allow me?
To dip
My little finger-tip
In the Jasmine bowl?”

Neroli flower

SCIENCE ARTICLE: NEROLI – PAIN REDUCING. J. Nat Med.. 2015 Jul;69(3):324-31. doi: 10.1007/s11418-015-0896-6. Epub 2015 Mar 12.Analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of Citrus aurantium L. blossoms essential oil (neroli): involvement of the nitric oxide/cyclic-guanosine monophosphate pathway.

Abstract. The analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of Citrus aurantium L. blossoms essential oil (neroli) were investigated in mice and rats. The analgesic activity of neroli was assessed … while acute and chronic anti-inflammatory effects were investigated …. Neroli significantly decreased the number of acetic acid-induced writhes in mice compared to animals that received vehicle only. Also, it exhibited a central analgesic effect, as evidenced by a significant increase in reaction time in the hot plate method. The oil also significantly reduced carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats. …. Neroli was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and twenty-three constituents, representing 91.0 % of the oil, were identified. The major components of neroli were characterized as linalool (28.5 %), linalyl acetate (19.6 %), nerolidol (9.1 %), E,E-farnesol (9.1 %), α-terpineol (4.9 %), and limonene (4.6 %), which might be responsible for these observed activities. The results suggest that neroli possesses biologically active constituent(s) that have significant activity against acute and especially chronic inflammation and have central and peripheral antinociceptive effects which support the ethnomedicinal claims of the use of the plant in the management of pain and inflammation.

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References:
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publishing Company, FL. 1974
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol, 1^st edition, 2015, IAG Botanics
]. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762161
Mabberley, D.J., Mabberley’s Plant Book, 2008 3rd Edition 2014 updates, Cambridge University Press
Ohloff, Günther. Scent and Fragrances, The Fascination of Odors. Springer-Verlag.
Rawlinson, Gloria. The Perfume Vendor. Hutchinson & Co. 1937.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols.
Rose, Jeanne. Natural Botanical Perfumery. Available from the author at /

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Odor snapshots of 2 types of Neroli flower oil from Eden Botanicals.

2 Odor snapshots of Neroli flower oil from Sicily and Egypt — •

Orange flowers – 2003

GOURMET PERFUMERY

CLAYs and Muds

Mar11

Essential Oils & Herbal ~ Clay Facials & Packs

Synopsis ~ An overview of the many types of clay that is available for masks, packs and baths, including Moor peat and formulas and recipes to use for best results. Includes herbs and essential oils.

Compiled by Jeanne Rose ~ 2000 – 2019

alchemical symbol for clay — **Clay symbo**l

Formulas are original to Jeanne Rose

14 types of clay — **Clay is just a type of Earth – photo by JeanneRose2019**

INTRODUCTION TO CLAY

CLAY IS ADDED TO WATER ~ When you add clay to water, a slurry forms because the clay distributes itself evenly throughout the water. If you add water to clay a mud forms because the clay cannot distribute itself completely in the water (herbal water or hydrosol).

Before recorded history, many cultures used and promoted clay because of its wonderful qualities. Many types of clay and many peoples including Indian tribes of the Andes, Central Africa and the aborigines of Australia, found and used volcanic ash clay internally. They used the drawing power of clay to eliminate intestinal toxins, ulcers, for leprosy, infections and even tuberculosis. They used it as a pack or compress for its healing qualities. Clay or mud baths are helpful to pull toxic metals from the skin and body and the best spas in the world feature full-body baths of clay and mud. Many books are available on the topic of the healing power of clay, used both internally and externally.

Clay comes in many different colors, textures, and adsorption abilities. Clay adsorbs rather than absorbs, that is, toxins attach to the outside of the clay particles (adsorb) rather than being taken up (absorb) by the clay particles. Clay adsorbs toxins both externally on the skin or internally if taken with water as a going-to-bed drink. Clay will rid the body of pimples and boils or wherever there is acne, pimples or infection if taken as a drink as well as applied externally as a pack.

WHERE TO FIND GOOD CLAY ~ This varies in every locality and many types and colors of clay can be found. As an example, in much of the U.S.A. good ‘blue’ clay seems to ‘grow wild’. In some areas there are local clays as good as ‘blue’ clay…some may even say better? Blue Clay is also known as blue shale and soapstone in some areas. Good places to find blue clay is in excavations such as rock quarries, strip mines, building excavations, roadway cuts in hillsides, refuse dump earth excavations, etc. You will see it along roadway cuts or in piles of strip-mining overburden. It may have rock hard ‘shale’ with it, which sometimes breaks down into good clay, but the shale is discarded in favor of solid-free clay. If your state does not have any blue clay ask the park departments where they get clay for their tennis courts, ask local pottery and brick factories where they get clay. You may also just ‘google’ clay to find various kinds for skin care and internal uses. See some Sources at the end of the article.

Healing symbol

MEDICINAL USES OF CLAY ~ Use clay in many ways; medicinally, taken internally and applied externally for a variety of conditions. Red Montmorillonite (Rhassoul) is the most active and detoxifying. Green Illite is the most versatile and use it externally for drainage or internally to detoxify. Use Pink Kaolin clay for facial masks, as it is gentle and cleansing. Use White Kaolin clay “to balance the pH of the body” and to take internally as an anti-diarrhea agent. Zeolite clay is also for internal use.

Rhiannon Lewis mentions that one of her best clay cases was with a young policeman with an old shoulder injury that flared up again following a skiing accident. She used green clay with hydrosol poultices (2 cm. thickness), left on for 45 minutes prior to applying an anti-inflammatory blend of essential oils in Hypericum and Arnica macerated oils. The clay added to the dramatic results that he experienced after just 2 applications.

Clay comes in many different colors, textures, and adsorption abilities. Add clay to water not water to clay. Add a spatula of clay powder to a beaker of water and watch what happen. Clay does not dissolve in water, it will form a suspension, and then eventually the clay will settle to the bottom of the beaker or you can mix it (clay and water) together for a mask. Clay adsorbs rather than absorbs, that is, things attach to the outside of the clay particles (adsorb) rather than being taken up (absorb) by the clay particles. It adsorbs toxins* both externally on the skin or internally if taken with water as a going to bed drink. When you apply Clay properly externally as a poultice/compress/mask, it will rid the body of pimples and boils or wherever there is acne, pimples or infection.

It is easy to put together a clay mask or pack: simply take a bit of clay (1-2 t.) and add it to 1-2 teaspoon water/hydrosol, let it soak a bit, enough to mix, using a non-metal mixer or wooden spatula or your finger, apply it to your face or part of the body being treated, let it dry and then remove with plenty of water. Follow with a spray of mineral water or hydrosol.

A table of clay and their various compositions. — **Clay composition**

If you are not ready for a steady diet of clay, explore the world of clay facials that you can make at home. Clays are natural silicates of the earth and are perfect as a base for a facial mask. They draw toxins* out of the skin and they restore the skin back to a natural balance. They may redden the skin and it is best to use a clay facial mask only once a week, more than that may be too drying to the face. Do not use a clay mask just before an important event. The cosmetic clays today are useful, convenient, cleansing and invigorating. The clays most widely used for facials include Bentonite, French green clay and Rhassoul or red clay. Do not mix different types of clay together as they each have their own qualities.

*toxins – I am using the word toxins in the way the cosmetic industry uses it ~ and that is toxins are anything that damages whether topical or ingested. Not necessarily a word that is accepted but one that is useful never-the-less. The body’s natural defense is to push ‘toxins’ out through sweat, pimples and blackheads. When our body absorbs toxins, we push it out through our skin creating acne and other skin conditions. You can detox the skin through facials and products.

Activated Charcoal is a great first-aid remedy and skin care treatment along with your clay. It too can be used together with a bit of hydrosol or water to make a first-class adsorbing compress or mask. A bottle of it should always be available in your first-aid kit along with clay.

Activated charcoal is a form of carbon processed to have small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption and chemical reactions. It is in hospitals to help treat drug overdose or a poisoning, mushroom poisoning, accidental poisoning, and to help soothe the itching sensation that some people feel while receiving dialysis treatment. You can purchase this inexpensive substance over-the-counter and take it at home for those times when you have stomach upsets from gas, diarrhea, or other stomach issues. When you take activated charcoal, drugs and toxins* will bind to it. This helps rid the body of unwanted substances. Charcoal is made from coal, wood, or other substances.

symbol for clay

VARIOUS TYPES OF CLAY

BENTONITE CLAY is an aluminum phyllosilicate clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite, also called Fuller’s Earth. It was named by Wilbur C. Knight in 1898 after the Cretaceous Benton Shale near Rock River, Wyoming. It is somewhat different from the other types of clay. When Bentonite is added to water, the molecular structure changes and an electrical charge is produced. The clay swells like a sponge, attracting toxins* into the mixture and once they are drawn, they are bound to the clay because of the electric charge. Bentonite is found in Montana as a soft porous rock composed of clayey minerals in various colors and used chiefly in oil well drilling and in pharmacy and skin care. The principal constituent, montmorillonite is RMgAl₅Si12O30(OH)₆•nH₂O, an adsorbent.

Bentonite clay is volcanic ash and the largest deposits come from Wyoming and Montana. After mining, it is brought into the sun to remove excess water, so it is easier to work with. Finely ground clay powder is sent off for use in baths and facials.

Pascalite Clay is the source of rare calcium Bentonite and is used for a variety of health purposes both internally and externally. It can be best classified as calcium bentonite-montmorillonite of the non-swelling type. It’s categorized as white clay, but this unique mineral is cream-colored from an area located in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, USA. More powerful than other clays! Pascalite is a family owed business and by supporting them you are supporting real human beings and not a corporate company. See the Source list.

symbol for clay

BLUE CLAY can occur naturally in the soil – it occurs in South Carolina, it occurs in Canada and Scotland – or white clay can be colored blue by adding an azulene essential oil, that adds natural occurring blue pigments as well. Gault Clay is a formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albion). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs parts of England, and is found on the south side of The North Downs and the north side of the South Downs. It is also to be found beneath the scarp of the hills in Oxfordshire, England, and on the Isle of Wight where it is known as Blue Slipper clay. The Gault underlies the chalk beneath the London basin; the lower Gault is present only below the outer parts of the basin and is absent under central London.

I was given a wonderful container of Blue clay from a field in Scotland by Tracy and Don Bruce. They were at their Bruce Family reunion in Scotland and had quite an adventure obtaining this substance for me. See Sources.

Bluestone Clay from Canada is used in body and facial masks. Bluestoneclay, Box 49, Bamfield BC (General Delivery), VOR1BO, Canada. https://bluestoneclay.webs.com/ I loved obtaining this clay and using it.

Cambrian Blue Clay: A Cambrian Clay comes from Western Siberia and some other places and is high in minerals and salts. This clay comes in a wet form. It can be added to cold process soaps, facial masks or scrubs. This clay is ready to be used immediately. Cambrian Clay in a product helps with oily skin and adds nourishing properties to the soap. This clay will give a grayish-blue color and pleasant, exfoliating properties. I love this clay and have used it for over 10 years.

FULLER’S EARTH is mainly montmorillonite and attapulgite. You can obtain it everywhere including pharmacy and discount stores. It is used to lighten the skin tone. It has many uses including as cat litter, cloth production, cleaning marble and in cosmetics and skin care. It is excellent for oily skin. Another name for Fuller’s Earth is Bentonite. See above.

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GREEN & FRENCH GREEN CLAY is also known as Sea Clay and is one of the most widely used in the cosmetics industry. The clay gets a green color from naturally decomposed plants and iron oxides. True French green clay will never be white or gray; the color should be green or off green. The molecular makeup of the clay is adsorbent to the skin. Not all French green clay comes from France. Some green clay comes from Wyoming, Montana and China, but the French have had the market cornered for so long; it has just become known as French green clay. You can improve your green clay and make it better by adding powdered herbs such as Parsley to increase the healing action and the amount of chlorophyll.

Green Zeolite Clay has incredibly high purity. The clay is used for odor adsorption and ion exchange. Green Zeolite Clay has exceptional adsorption properties. It is sterilized and free of bacteria. This is the clay from the famous Amargosa Valley of New Mexico. When you add a teaspoon of Green Zeolite Clay to a glass of water, the ionic properties of them is such that they electromagnetically attract and bind with heavy metals, toxins and radiation particles in your blood, through the cells in your intestinal walls and they are then released or passed out of the body in the feces (creating nuclear waste – but better out of your body rather than in your body).

KAOLIN CLAY or WHITE CLAY is a naturally occurring clay mineral, also known as china clay and can be bright white in color, with several lighter shades of pink. Kaolin or China Clay, originally from Kiangsi in SE China, is a fine white clay that used in fine ceramics and in cosmetics as an adsorbent. Its principal constituent is kaolinite Al2Si2O5(OH)4. Kaolin can make a range of goods ranging from pottery to paper and in beauty. It is ground into a fine powder used in skin care and masks.

The first clay that I used in my adult life was from the company Abracadabra owned by Warren Raysor. This company started almost 50 years ago. He had several to choose from. When I asked him for a quote for this article, this is what he sent, “I like the white clay, Kaolin, named after Mt. Kaolin somewhere in China., pure aluminum silicate. the foundation (I’m making a pun here), of the mineral Expansion – Contraction – Absorption principle. Good for drawing out. The crystal is shaped like a newspaper page, big L and W, but the H is probably only a molecule…almost only two dimensions …it’s a two dimensional thing really…and when hydrated by water (another two dimensional thing) the plates separate…now granted that full hydration can take a month…the ‘clay body’ expands and as it dries out – it creates an almost complete vacuum. Don’t forget to rinse…well.”

I also remember a great quote from Warren when we were talking about starting a new business, something like “clay is a bad choice as a business start-up, as a customer only needs 1-box in a lifetime”.

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PINK CLAY. Mix Kaolin Clay and Rhassoul or Red Clay together and you will get a pinkish clay that some prefer. It is milder than red clay and a bit stronger than white clay.

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MONTMORILLONITE. See Fullers Earth, French Clay and Bentonite.

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MOOR MUD is not clay. It is a therapeutic peat moss. I have always used the Neydharting Moor as it is a lowland Moor and originates in various layers of plants which are never totally decomposed, and due to relatively wet conditions and lack of air, the organisms in the earth are slowed down leaving the Moor alive for a long time. This moor is considered a better choice for a bath.

“Moor mud is a most prized ancient medicinal therapy. It has been used for centuries to balance, detoxify, and tone the body.” Moor mud is the unique product of time and nature that started when the last Ice Age began to retreat. Valley’s brimming with plant life formed and were isolated from the rest of the world. The plants became submerged under the lakes formed by the melting glaciers. Over time, this area became a rich, live deposit of organic substances with all of the properties of the plants intact.” Analysis of Moor mud shows that it contains over 1000 organic botanicals, trace minerals and elements, enzymes, natural antibiotics, vitamins and phyto-hormones” — from a Moor mud brochure.

It makes a great mask or a bath. “Large moor regions are found mainly in the colder regions of the world, on siliceous, primary rock subsoil. The Moor has its own typical plant world, dominated by the mosses, which thrive there, spreading out into a luxuriant, spongy carpet, under which all life suffocates. The moor is continually becoming thicker — the dead plant parts sink into the water, rot there without oxygen, then are deposited in the soil and slowly but surely change into peat.”

“Administered to the skin sparingly, it wraps the human body in a protective coating, so the defensive mechanisms of the body are stimulated to counter the negative influences (in the environment).” — Dr. Hauschka The Herb Book (1975)

A block of black Moor peat mud — **a block of Moor mud**

Moor mud is a potent natural healing substance, an organic mixture of ancient plant material. Regular Moor baths can nourish and rejuvenate the body and detox and reduce inflammation of the tissues; the issues that are considered a major cause of skin aging, wrinkles and many of the pains and illnesses to which humans are subjected. Moor mud needs to be applied fresh to maintain its therapeutic quality.

two sources of Moor mud, Torf and Living Earth — **Moor Mud from two sources.**

Moor Peat Mud Therapy Body Mask. I use the Neydharting Moor mud from Austria and usually in a bath. It can also be applied to the entire body as a wrap. Make the clay pack and cover the body and then wrap in warmed smooth linen sheets, allowing time for the mud mask to penetrate. The black mud does stain the linen. Moor helps heal, soothe and rejuvenate tired muscles and dull skin. Moor is detoxifying and acts as an excellent anti-inflammatory: soothing to the skin, muscle and joints. The feet and scalp are massaged during the wrap. After rinsing, massage the body with a rehydrating lotion to which essential oils are added.

Moor mud wraps are seen on the SPA menus of the world’s finest spas for complete body care. In addition to its cosmetic use as a natural exfoliant, detoxifier and cellulite reducer, Moor mud can be used in poultices to reduce swelling, reduce inflammation, to draw out abscesses, and to promote healing with minimized scar formation.

Moor mud is black but totally dissolves in your bath water. You cannot see through the water, but it does not leave your bathtub ‘dirty’. For a real home treatment, you must use five-seven soaking baths, spaced every 2-3 days, using 5-7 ounces of Moor mud in each bath. Run a very warm to hot bath, add the Moor mud and soak quietly for at least 20 minutes. Get out of the tub and wrap yourself in a towel to just towel dry. I prefer to use heavy linen towels for this. Put on your bedclothes and go straight to bed. Use no soap with these baths and use them at night before bedtime.

Recipe for Body mask or wrapping with Moor mud. Natural Moor mud has a nice consistency and many types are available. It is excellent for mud body wraps or body masks. Moor mud is for general detoxification, pain treatment, a slimming body wrap to reduce size and to aid in the removal of cellulite.

Apply an even layer of the warm peat to the treated area or the whole body and wrap in a thermal blanket or foil. Leave on for about 20 to 30 minutes, then rinse and relax while wrapped in a warm, dry blanket for 20 minutes. 1 bottle (36 oz or 1 liter) is good for 4 to 8 wraps or for 5 baths.

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RHASSOUL OR RED CLAY (MOROCCAN RED CLAY) comes from Morocco, and has been in use for centuries as soap, shampoo, and now as a skin conditioner in some the finest spas in the world. It comes from the Atlas Mountains in Eastern Morocco and resembles silky earth when refined. It is adsorbent and effective for cleaning and detoxifying. It reduces dryness, flakiness and improves skin’s clarity, texture and elasticity.

Red Clay is in Vermilion, Alberta, Canada and as a matter of fact, the city is named after the red clay found in the river valley. One of the first businesses in Vermilion was the brick factory for fine red brick which operated from 1906 until 1914.

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YELLOW CLAY is composed of fine mineral particles, 48% silica, and iron oxides which determine its color. It contains iron, but no aluminum. It is a very mild clay and used on dry or sensitive skin. It is a pale-yellow colored powder. You can enhance the yellow color and therapeutic value with the addition of finely ground or powdered yellow Calendula flowers. Use yellow clay in a mask or body pack with a bit of Calendula infused oil.

another alchemical symbol for clay — **another symbol for clay**

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MAKING A CLAY MASK

Every clay facial mixture contains a clay and a liquid; plain water, hydrosol or distilled water for the liquid. Use a glass, pottery or wooden bowl, (not metal) and add the clay to the liquid, wait for 1-minute before you do anything, Stir with a non-metal object. I use a very narrow flat wooden spatula. (See picture earlier in this article.) The clay will form into a smooth paste. Use equal parts clay and liquid or start out with less liquid because you can always add more. Allow the clay to stand for a few minutes to absorb the moisture. Apply a ⅛ to ¼ inch thick layer to the face and let it dry. It usually takes 5 minutes for delicate skin and 15 to 20 minutes for normal skin, but if it is wet, it is still working. The pulling and tightening sensation is normal and what you want to happen. Do not let the clay mask get very stiff and dry. Remove the clay by washing off with plenty of warm water. There may be a slight redness, this is normal and will disappear in a few hours. If a rash should happen to appear, discontinue the mask or try a gentler treatment or less potent clay.

Do not use hydrosols as the liquid in the clay mask unless you know the hydrosol. Lavender is especially tricky as many distillers are distilling a camphor-based Lavender plant instead of an ester-based plant. A camphor Lavender hydrosol will cause redness.

The clays make the perfect base for a facial. Use them as is or why not make them special with unique liquids, scent or herbs for even more natural elements for the face. Try using aloe vera juice, honey, apple cider vinegar or floral waters mixed with the clay. Powdered herbs and tiny amounts of essential oils when added to the clay create a luxurious scented mask.

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CLAY AND HERBS ~ A basic recipe for a dozen masks includes 2-3 oz. of clay with 1-2 oz. of powdered herbs added. Some herbs to try with the clay are finely ground Calendula petals, Chamomile centers, Comfrey leaf, Lavender flower, Marshmallow root and Peppermint leaves. Ground Comfrey root and Slippery elm bark are good for dry skin. Rose petal powder adds some fragrance and citrus peel powder is good for astringency. Neem powder or charcoal has an anti-bacterial quality for acne and Oatmeal, Almond meal or milk powders soothe the skin.

Mix your herbal mixtures first and store away in clean dry glass containers. Label them. Add the clay to the water just before you wish to use a mask.

Use a mask in the morning, at least 8 hours before you plan to go out for the evening. And don’t try something new just before an important evening.

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Mix herbs with clay ahead, label, and store for future use. Mix the herbal clay with herbal waters and use for many skin care and therapeutic purpose. Read the Herbal Body Book, by this author to find out about the herbs. Face-Kit is a new company mixing herbs and clay and hydrosols for wonderful facial masks.

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CLAY AND ESSENTIAL OILS ~ ADD ESSENTIAL OILS in with the herbs for fragrance or therapy. There is a danger when adding EO to clay. They are very concentrated, and you will only need 1/5th of a drop of EO to any one clay mask. One drop can be too much for one mask. You will have to dilute 1 drop of essential oil in 5 drops of carrier oil and then use only one drop of the diluted oil in any one mask. When making enough clay for 5 or more masks, then add 1-drop of your essential oil mixture with the clay, let it settle and remember to stir all together before application.

On a recent Facebook page, I was asked for advice regarding using essential oils in clay. My response was … “In a mask where there is a teaspoon of clay, a teaspoon of fluid, 1-drop of EO is too much for skin it will be touching. Think of the massage therapist – how much EO do they use for the entire body and then reduce that down to 12 square inches of face space. Any amount of EO is too much in one facial mask of clay plus the fact that you may be using a hydrosol. [The average adult has about eight pounds (3.6 kilograms), or about 22 square feet (2 square meters) of skin. It may help to put that in perspective — a standard doorway is 21 square feet, and the average adult’s skin would fill all of that space]”.

Prima Fleur has a wonderful clay mask made with pure kaolin clay to exfoliate and draw impurities from the skin. It is rich in minerals and the clay has been in use for thousands of years to protect and treat skin ailments. Add a bit of pumice to the clay and some herbs as well. The drawing properties of the clay provide detoxification while the gentle exfoliation of fine pumice leaves skin soft and supple. The appealing color and the smooth texture of the clays enhance the experience. Prima Fleur suggests that you enhance the experience and benefits with hydrosols, and carrier oils pre-mixed with preferred essential oil(s). Mix all together and blend to a creamy consistency.

**Essential Oils courtesy of Eden Botanicals**

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RECIPES AND FORMULAS

It is easy to put together a clay mask or pack: simply take a bit of clay (1 T.), add clay to the water/hydrosol, enough, wait, use a non-metal mixer or your finger to mix and apply. Let it dry but not hard and then remove with plenty of water. Follow with a spray of mineral water or hydrosol. [do not add water to the clay].

For sensitive skin: Use white or Blue clay and aloe vera gel and add less than 1 drop of Rose, Neroli, Chamomile blue or Roman. Do not go overboard on essential oils but try mixing a few of them together. Mix the 4 drops of EO into 20-drops of carrier oil and then use only 1 drop of this for 1 face mask.

For normal skin: Use Green clay with Rose Geranium hydrosol and add no more than 1 drop total of Lavender, Juniper, Rose geranium or Chamomile. Do not go overboard on essential oils because they are concentrated but try mixing a few of them together. Mix the 4 drops of EO into 15 drops of carrier oil and then use only 1 drop of this for 1 face mask.

For dry skin: Use French green clay and Rose hydrosol. If you add essential oils add no more than 1 drop total of mixed Rose, Blue Chamomile, Neroli and Sandalwood and add a carrier oil, Marula, Olive or Almond to dilute the EO first. Or you can add honey, yogurt or an egg yolk with the essential oil and clay mixture and blend well. Do not go overboard on essential oils but try mixing a few of them together. Mix the 4 drops of EO into 15 drops of milk, honey or yogurt and then use only 1 drop of this for 1 face mask.

For oily skin: Use Red clay with 2 drops total of mixed Ylang Ylang, Lemon, Lavender, Rosemary and Rose Geranium. Mix in an egg white for more drawing power. Do not go overboard on essential oils. Try mixing a few of them together. Mix the 4 drops of EO into 15 drops of egg white and then use only 1 drop of this for 1 face mask.

Wrinkled or sun damaged skin benefits from adding yogurt, mashed Avocado or Banana with a drop of the essential oils mentioned. Do not go overboard on essential oils but try mixing a few of them together. Mix the 1 drops of EO into 1 spoonful of Avocado or Banana and then use only 1 drop or 1-dab of this for 1 face mask.

Full body masks of clay are quite popular in spas. Apply them approximately ½ inch thick or less over the body parts, avoiding sensitive areas like the eyes and mouth. It will take at least an hour to dry so this is a perfect time to listen to music or do meditation. Add aromatherapy to the experience by diffusing Elemi and Lavender, or Orange and Sandalwood into the air. Shower off the mask when dry (the clay will not harm drains). This is a treat when you want to pamper yourself in the hot summer. Experiment with different mixtures and recipes and give these fantastic masks to your friends as aromatherapy gifts. Take a cue from ancient cultures and make clay spa treatments at home. It’s fun to come up with your own recipes and healthy for your skin at the same time.

Read the Herbal Body Book by this author for many recipes and formulas. Clay Masks and Herbal Masks are listed in the Herbal Body Book p. 184-194 and “The Aromatherapy Book” pages 243-244 and various clays are mentioned specifically on pages 48, 49, 56 and 244.

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Recipe for Clay Mask for Aging Skin. For mature skin, it often helps to also use a bit of oil in the mask to form a creamy texture that will not dry out completely. Use any oil, Olive, Marula or whatever you choose.

Formula. Combine: 1 tsp of Elder flowers + 1 tsp of Chamomile flowers. Infuse in 2 oz. of boiling water. Cool until cool enough to use.

Take 1 T. of clay and add to the 1 T. of the water or hydrosol. >Add clay to water Let the clay soak into the water. Apply to clean skin. Let dry 15 minutes. Remove with plenty of water and follow with a gentle tonic hydrosol spray.

OR Combine the 2 oz. cool flower water with 1 drop of Patchouli essential oil, 1 drop of Palmarosa essential oil and 5 drops of carrier oil, mix AND to this add the Rhassoul (red) clay, enough to make a paste that will spread on the face. Allow to dry 15-20 minutes but not until it is hard. Rinse with warm water and spray with a hydrosol.

Formula for anybody. It is easy to put together a clay mask or pack: simply take a bit of clay (1-T.), and ADD to water/hydrosol, let it soak a bit, enough to mix, using a non-metal mixer or your finger and apply. Let it dry and then remove with plenty of water.

October 1978 – Esalen Clay Class by Jeanne Rose

Having fun at the baths rolling in various types of clay and the sulfur water of Esalen.

Preparing a Clay Compress for an infection. First, one pre-makes clay for use. This author prefers a super-hydrated, super-wet clay, to the point that no further water can be added without causing a separation of the clay. Here is where I do prefer a drop of EO to be added that will treat the infection (boil, pimple, acne).

Add clay to water. When you add clay to water, a slurry forms because the clay distributes itself evenly throughout the water. When water is added to clay mud forms and the clay cannot distribute. Apply clay pack to skin. Cover with plastic wrap. Cover with cloth. Try to keep warm. Leave on for 30 minutes or more. Then remove and apply Bruise Juice.

The more often you do this, the more the infection will come to the surface. The pimple will form and then pop and be removed in the clay mask.

Moor Mud with clay Mask to create strong anti-bacterial/anti-fungal treatment. Treats psoriasis, eczema and fungi. Strong anti-inflammatory action thanks to high percentage of humic acids and sulphur. Mix wet Moor with water and add the clay to this black goop. Spread it on, let it dry. Take a steam and wash yourself.

Nice Seaweed Clay Mask. This should make 2 masks
1 T blue clay (or other color, depending on skin type)
1 T powdered Seaweed, any kind
½ -drop essential oil (Rose Geranium)

Mix the seaweed with 4 T. hydrosol or water for 30 minutes and then add the clay to the liquid and essential oil to the mixture to make a paste. (About 4 T). Apply to face. Relax, Shower or bathe and remove mask with plenty of water.

Leah Vautro and a friend in 2013 with clay masks on. — **Leah Vautrot & friend 2013 ~ with permission**

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MORE INFORMATION SOME WHAT REPETITIVE

Clay Compress. A clay compress is quite different from a poultice. You use a compress if the body is weak or debilitated or when you only have a small amount of clay to work with or when you have no time for a poultice or if a full poultice would be too difficult or when a large area requires periodic or constant treatment.

Clay compresses (or multiple compresses) may be prepared, placed on the body, secured with tape OR bands or a wrap and the person can go on with their daily life.

Preparing a Clay Compress. Add twice as much clay to the water as you would for a poultice. You want it to look like a thick watery mud.

Method 1. Lay a waterproof plastic sheet on a table. Place a clean, white, cotton dressing on the waterproof sheet, and apply the clay to only one side of the dressing. Enough clay should be used so that one cannot see the dressing through the clay. Too much clay added will cause clay to leak from the sides once the compress is placed on the body. Depending on the density of the clay used, these types of clay compresses can be left on the body for between twenty minutes and 3.5 hours. Lay on the table with the clay touching the skin.

Wrap the dressing around you and cover with a cotton blanket or if wrapped correctly so the compress doesn’t leak, you can walk around. Whenever you feel that it is ‘done’ take a warm healing bath with Rosemary and Lavender herb (wrap them first in a cloth or place in a rice ball).

A wire rice cooking ball that contains blue Malva flowers and Rosemary herb. for use as a bath ball. — **Herb Bath Ball. See the blog post on the bath.**

Method 2. Take a clean soft white cotton or muslin cloth and completely soak it in the clay water. The cloth will be completely saturated. Place the cloth on the area that is being treated. Cover with saran wrap so that your clothes or bedding does not get wet. Change the compress every 15-30 minutes. You can also add a warmed towel to the top (over the saran wrap) to keep the area warm.

There are SPAs where this can be done, and it is much easier for someone else to make the clay pack and apply it than it is for you to do it to yourself. It is relatively easy to do this to your own arms and legs but with a full-body compress or poultice, you will need help.

Leaving a clay compress on the body to the point that it dries out can cause some difficulties with the skin, with prolonged use. Every situation is unique, and one must use good judgment when deciding how long each compress can remain on the body. The higher the adsorption ability of clay, often the longer a compress can be left on the body before necessitating a change.

When preparing a clay compress, always fashion the compress to the exact needed size; one can even cut the dressing to comfortably mold and fit precisely on the desired treatment location.

Or go naked and let the sun dry your clay pack.

A man with a blue clay face mask and and a green clay chest mask — **1987 – Esalen Clay Class by JeanneRose**

JEANNE ROSE CLAY TOMATO TALE OF THE DAY

Teenage Acne. Long ago when my son was in his teens, I noticed that he was getting acne and was developing some pus’y pimples on his face. He had asked me some questions about acne, and I had already gone to the store and purchased a container of “Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay” and had removed the bottom of the box very carefully and mixed in quite a bit of ground and powdered Parsley herb and then replaced the bottom. The Aztec clay was sitting quietly in the bathroom waiting to be found and used. I mentioned the clay to him again and how to make a clay pack and how it worked. Later that evening as I was lying in bed reading — these questions always happen either at 10 p.m. while I am in bed or in the car while drive 70 m/h — my son walked into my bedroom and started to talk to me. I very carefully ignored the fact that his face was bright green and covered with the clay mask that I had previously altered. And I certainly did not laugh out loud as I wanted to do. Teenage boys are very delicate and if you laugh at their efforts to do the right thing, they are sure to stop doing those things. So, no laughing even though seeing your handsome son with a green clay face mask is quite amusing. Every night we went through the same ritual, I went to bed, he went to the bathroom, applied a green mask, and then came into talk to me and each time I ignored his face. Finally, after about a week, he came in to show me that his face was beginning to show a rash around the chin. At that point I knew that the Parsley Face Mask had done its job and his face had had enough. I suggested that he stop with the mask for at least 2-weeks and see it they had cured his skin. In the morning, his face was completely clear, no pus’y pimples, no acne and within 24 hours the chin rash was healed, and he never had the problem again. The clay mask had worked its magic.

Body Odor and Clay. When my daughter began to go through her puberty, I could find no books that dealt with the subject. Ultimately, in 1987, I wrote, the Modern Herbal, now sadly out-of-print which dealt with this issue and others. When these girls began to develop, they also began to develop a horrible body odor, and it seemed that no amount of bathing could solve the problem. The odor was detectable on the breath as well as on the body and was rather sour, offensive and very pungent. “In our household we solved this problem easily. We simply added clay to the diet.” The edible clays available on the market are tasteless. They adsorb toxins and are excreted in the feces. One teaspoon of edible green clay taken in a half glass of water followed by a full glass of water, night and morning for 1-week solved our problem completely. The girls no longer had any nasty body odor and therefore did not need to use the strong antiperspirants nor the antibacterial soaps.”¹

Other Tales of Clay.

Tracy Feldstein … “I still use the blue clay you gave me, Jeanne. It is wonderful! With hydrosol and a single drop of the Blue Chamomile oil I got from you, well, a little goes such a long way and the results are amazing. I used to use steroid cream for psoriasis. Now I use plants, and they work so much better.”

Leenie Hobbie … “I used Bentonite clay, a variety of salts, and mashed Plantain (Plantago major) leaves to heal a brown recluse bite. It was a sloooooow, long healing. The area around the bite/necrotic tissue sort of isolated itself from the healthy tissue. It formed a sac-like structure and began to peel away. I used poultices and soaks daily and held my Plantain/salt slurries in place through the day and overnight with clay. Eventually, the small sac was hanging by the tiniest bit of tissue and I was standing in a pond one day and a small trout swam up and bit the sac of necrotic tissue off. Later my doctor friend said that my intuitive treatment was a good one because lancing or cutting it in any way would have driven the poison back into my bloodstream. That is my Tomato tale about a fish and a spider and clay.”

•

Sources for Clay:
•Blue Clay quarry in Scotland collierhaulage.co.uk/blue–clay/ …This is a quarry. You might have better luck going in person.
. Mailing ~ Bluestone clay, box 49, Bamfield, bc, general delivery, v0r1b0, Canada
•Indian Healing Clay. Easily available.
•Kentucky Based Stone Producer. 1 800 272 0441 ask for Lisa or Bruce or email to
•Pascalite Clay, 306 Lawson, PO Box 104, Worland, WY 82401, ph. 307-347-3872, , www.pascalite.com.
•Mountain Rose Herbs.
•www.face-kit.com for clay and fruit masks

Sources for Essential Oils:
I use only two sources for essential oils, and they are Eden Botanicals and Prima Fleur Botanicals.

Books to Read and Books to Use
¹.Rose, Jeanne. Jeanne Rose’s Modern Herbal. 1987

Abehsera, Michel. The Healing Clay (I have had my book so long that it is held together with rubber bands). 1979.

Abehsera, Michel. The Healing Power of Clay. I believe that this is the same as the above.

Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book and 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols. /

Rose, Jeanne. . /books.html

Rose, Jeanne. The Herbal Studies Course. 2009. /

Sherwood, Patricia. Clay Therapy

Jeanne Rose with a blue face mask and parsley teabags for the eyes on a slant board. — **1975 – Using clay masks and Parsley tea bags for the eyes**

Jeanne Rose in the early days – at home

Author Bio: JEANNE ROSE is the founder of New Age Creations, the first body-care company in the United States to use aromatherapy (since 1968) based on the formulas she invented and used in ; she is the Director of both the Herbal Studies Course and the Aromatherapy Studies Course by home-study and Distance-Learning and with in-person Seminars. She brings 45 years of experience and personal research in her practice of Aromatherapy. She is the author of 24 books on herbs and aromatherapy, Jeanne Rose has also authored, 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols, which is a complete reference book of 375 aromatic plant extracts and hydrosols with phytochemical, clinical and botanical indices. In 2003, a Distillation Handbook and the book of Lavender, Lavender, Lavender, was published.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.

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BATH, WATER AND BATHING STUFF

GRAPEFRUIT ESSENTIAL OIL

Feb21

GRAPEFRUIT ESSENTIAL OIL

By Jeanne Rose ~ 2019

Synopsis ~ Grapefruit EO & Plant ~ A complete description, country of origin, characteristics, skin care, formulas and recipes on how to use this oil as well as facts and fantasies not yet known.

Grapefruit essential oil, two kinds of Grapefruit and Grapefruit jam. — **Essential oils courtesy of Eden Botanicals**

Common Name/Latin Binomial ~ Grapefruit is Citrus paradisi, Citrus x aurantium (2015), sometimes called Citrus medica.

Other Common Name/Naming Information ~ The Grapefruit group of citrus originates from a back cross of C. paradisi with a female of C. maxima and a more up-to-date Latin binomial is Citrus x aurantium. Citrus maxima (Citrus grandis), the Pomelo, is a parent of our essential oil producing Grapefruit but is not used itself for EO production.

Family ~ Rutaceae, the Citrus family

Origins: South Africa, USA, Iran, Brazil, and Israel. Grapefruit originated in China or maybe the West Indies. Disputed history shows “careful search has not found it a native of the Olde Worlde”⁵.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location ~ The white Grapefruit and pink Grapefruit fruit are harvested in the USA while the ruby red Grapefruit is harvested in Israel.

General description of Plant habitat and growth ~ Grapefruit is a small tree with dark, evergreen leaves and large, creamy white flowers and large, yellow or pinkish fruits that ripen from December to March.

Grapefruit has a thick rind and large sections. Its skin called the flavedo is thick, firm, and fragrant; the pulp is white to red in color and acidic. Grapefruit trees produce the best quality fruit on sandy, relatively fertile soils in a warm humid climate. Supplementary fertilization is necessary in practically all producing areas. The trees come into bearing early and should produce commercially profitable crops by the fourth to sixth year after they are planted in the orchard. Mature trees may produce remarkably large crops—585 to 675 kg (1,290 to 1,490 pounds) of fruit per tree. Grapefruit consists of flavedo (outer layer with essential oil glands), albedo (white inner rind) and oval-shaped meat.²

Endangered or Not ~ Not currently.

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields ~ The oil is located deep within the flavedo of the peel and is thick. The Grapefruit does not produce large quantities of oil because of this thickness from the flavedo. The fresh peel is cold-pressed and contains up to 90% limonene.

Yield – 0.5-1.0%

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Grapefruit ~ Organoleptic Characteristics of EO of Grapefruit

Color of EO	Almost colorless for white Grapefruit; yellow color for pink Grapefruit and dark yellow for ruby red Grapefruit
Clarity	Clear
Viscosity	Non-Viscous and like water
Taste	Bitter, sour (tastes like the tart, bitter rind of a Grapefruit with white, rough, ridged and pebbly skin.)
Intensity of Odor 1-10 with 1= lowest	4

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment ~ Grapefruit Oil
“The peel of (Citrus paradisi Macfaden) or Grapefruit oil is cold pressed. The fresh, fruity top-note is due to p-menth-1-en-8-thiol. This component is present only in very low amounts. Grapefruit oil is sesquiterpene rich, which is unusual in citrus oils. Nootkatone is mainly responsible for the odor of the Grapefruit and contributes to the bitter flavor of the juice. Linaloöl oxides, is in many essential oils, and constitute the second most important class of compounds. Also found in the essential oil is epoxycaryophyllene, first found in Verbena oil, possesses a pleasant woody, balsamic odor. “(Scent & Fragrance by Gunther Ohloff)³

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GENERAL PROPERTIES

GRAPEFRUIT fruit and EO is for both IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application. We eat Grapefruit as food and take it as a tonic for the gall bladder. EO of pink grapefruit is sweet, warming while the white grapefruit is tart, and cooling. We use this oil as an astringent externally for skin and hair de-greaser, and inhaled for refreshment, and as a spray to disinfectant a room.

INGESTION – The juice of Grapefruit is a popular food source especially for breakfast and is effective in controlling sugar metabolism and as a slimming aid. It is a tonic for the gall bladder, and it is digestive, antioxidant and depurative. Studies have shown the pink and red varieties of Grapefruit contain higher amounts of antioxidants than the yellow or white kind.

*If you take statins or heart medication, confer with your doctor before you eat Grapefruit or drink the juice. There are several medications that are problematic.

PHYSICAL USES & HOW USED (IG or AP) – Externally, Grapefruit oil in a blend alleviates muscle fatigue and stiffness. I use it in a facial toner for its astringency, or on acne, as it stimulates lifeless skin. Apply Grapefruit oil neat as a treatment for herpes, in applications on the body as it can aids in cellulite reduction, and fluid retention, and use it as a disinfectant.

Application ~ Astringent, antiseptic, depurative, and anti-infectious. Do not use Grapefruit oil or any citrus oil in your bath as it will burn upon contact with your lady parts. Remember essential oils float in water, and when you step into the tub, the floating oils come into contact to whatever parts of your skin they touch first. Read other citrus oils and Lemon at https://jeanne-blog.com/lemon-oil/

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SKINCARE FORMULA

Grapefruit & Elemi Skin Cream for Oily Skin
I like to make a simple skin cream with a few simple ingredients.
Start with ½ cup Avocado butter or Coconut oil and then add
Add 1 oz (by volume) of Marula or Argan oil. Now you will want to
Add 5 drops Grapefruit Oil and 5 drops Elemi Oil and
Add a small scoop (1 T.) of Aloe Vera pulp (no peel)
And blend with a hand blender.
That’s it! Use once a day after cleansing.
Keep refrigerated.

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ Add to your blends for inhalation for uses as a tonic, restorative, and antidepressant.

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EMOTIONAL/ENERGETIC USE ~ Inhaled, Grapefruit oil may relieve hangovers, headaches, mental exhaustion, anxiety and depression, and used externally or by inhalation in a blend for menstrual difficulties, such as PMS and menopause. The scent is very uplifting and antiseptic and makes for a great air freshener.

Grapefruit along with other citrus is for the 3^rd Chakra, the spleen area, it vibrates in yellow and the complementary stone is citrine. It is uplifting and calming as well.

Formula for Tattered Nerves. Use equal amounts of Bergamot, Grapefruit (white or pink) and Lemon, about 30 drops of each and to the final formula add 1 drop of Nutmeg. Succuss and apply to a hanky from which you will inhale as needed.

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YOGA PRACTICE ~ Tricia Cruz has a yoga practice and uses essential oils for various purpose. One of her blends called “Clean and Clear” contains Pink Grapefruit/Rosemary (Citrus paradisi/Rosmarinus officinalis). She sprinkles this on her towel to improve focus and clarity in her practice.

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Citrus vinegar with white and pink Grapefuit peel, mandarin peel and lemon peel and white vinegar. — Citrus Vinegar with white and pink Grapefruit peel ~
1 peel of pink Grapefruit + 1 peel of white Grapefruit + 1 peel on Mandarin

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HERBAL USES OF GRAPEFRUIT

Citrus Vinegar – An Herbal-Home Remedy
for Cleaning and Mold Removal.

I have been making this vinegar for housecleaning for over 30 years. I have written about it in my Herbal Studies Course, online and in articles. In 1990, I had to clean the smelly walls of a home where someone had lived for 30 years without repainting or cleaning. They had a septic system and rather than using toxic chemicals, I used only Citrus Grapefruit Vinegar with Rosemary Hydrosol. The walls came clean, the septic system was undamaged, and the place took on a fresh and clean odor.

TO MAKE: Purchase a gallon of the cheapest white vinegar (best to buy in glass). As you eat lemons, oranges and especially grapefruit, use only the peel (flavedo) and roll the peels up and put into the vinegar bottle. Your vinegar will get the added benefits of the antibacterial citrus peels as well as the clean citrus fragrance. It is good to start with the peel of one Grapefruit, one Orange and one Lemon – but anything will do. Try to remove as much albedo (white underside of peel) as you can. When the vinegar is all gone, the bottle will be full of peels and you can just discard them in your compost pile and recycle the bottle. You can also add 16 oz. of water to the now empty citrus/vinegar bottle and make a spray to clean small surfaces.

I use this Citrus vinegar to clean all surfaces, stoves, porcelain, wood floors, wood chopping tables, dusty woodwork, door knobs, etc. This will clean and kill mold in your bathroom, basement, attic and other closed places. It will deodorize and kill any bad odor.

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You can also make a good cleanser and deodorizer by wiping the porcelain surfaces with baking soda and then adding the vinegar from your Citrus Vinegar bottle. You can keep drains clear by using baking soda and vinegar. Every two weeks pour 1-2 cups baking soda down all the drains and follow with 1 cup of plain white or citrus vinegar. Follow 2 hours later by pouring 2 quarts of boiling water down the drain. It will fizz, bubble, and keep the drains funk free and smelling good.

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Grapefruit Seed Extract – Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) or citrus seed extract is a supplement made from the seeds and pulp of grapefruit. It’s rich in essential oils and antioxidants and has been thought to have a variety of potential health benefits. It may be a natural antibiotic, antiseptic, disinfectant and preservative. It is used to promote the healing of almost any atypical skin condition. This product does not work as some hav claim. Other experts suggest that you used 10% alcohol (95% neutral grain spirits) for preservation. There is an excellent article about Grapefruit Seed Extract at “Aspects of the antimicrobial efficacy of grapefruit seed extract and its relation to preservative substances contained. (PMID:10399191)”. It states that 6 commercially available grapefruit seed extracts were tested; 3 also contained triclosan and methyl paraben; only one of the extracts were found to contain NO preservative agent and no antimicrobial activity could be detected; that the “antimicrobial activity being attributed to grapefruit seed extract is merely due to the synthetic preservative agents contained within. Natural products with antimicrobial activity do not appear to be present”.⁶

Physiochemical Properties ~ Solubility ~ Grapefruit EOis incompletely soluble in 90% alcohol up to 10 vol. owing to the separation of its natural wax.⁵

Chemical Components of Grapefruit oil ~ D-Limonene, Gamma-Terpinene, Nootketone, Cadinene, Neral, methyl anthranilate and Citronellal. Grapefruit mercaptan, a sulfur-containing terpene, is one of the substances which has a strong influence on the taste and odor of grapefruit. Nootkatone, aka, nootketone, is a natural organic compound and is the most important and expensive aromatic of grapefruit. It is a sesquiterpene and a ketone. Nootketone was previously thought to be one of the main chemical components of the smell and flavor of grapefruits.

Grapefruit after distillation also produces a wax. Substance in the cuticle wax of the fruit which is dissolved by the oil appears during cold pressing.

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Keeping Qualities of Citrus Oils ~ “Citrus oils kept in well-filled, well-stoppered, dark colored bottles and stored in a cool, dark place retain their original delicate flavor for years, but access of air or light, especially in the presence of traces of water, easily spoils citrus oils.”⁵ They oxidize, get an acid character, and piney odor and viscosity and specific gravity increase.

• • • •

Blends Best ~ Grapefruit blends with many oils including Basil, especially the non-carvacrol types; all Citrus oils and citrus smelling oils such as Clary Sage but especially Bergamot and Lemon; spicey oils such as Black Pepper, Cardamom, Clove, Coriander, Frankincense, Ginger and others; conifer oils such as Cypress and some Junipers and especially true Cedar (Cedrus atlantica); grass oils such as Citronella, Palmarosa and Vetivert, flower oils such as Chamomile and Roman Chamomile, Lavender, Neroli, Jasmine, Ylang and Rose; and herbaceous oils such as Peppermint and Rosemary (verbenone type).

“Grapefruit essential oil is quite useful in Citrus compositions and for all modifications of citrus notes in perfumery.^“It is used in the Top note in citrus and cologne blends with Bergamot to impart fresh non-green sharpness, body and tenacity.”³

White Grapefruit is a crisper ‘cooler’ scent than the pink or Ruby red Grapefruit.

5 types of Grapefruit essential oil that was cold-pressed from white Grapefruit peel, pink Grapefruit peel and ruby red Grapefruit peel — **Grapefruit oil courtesy of Eden Botanicals**

Blending with Citrus Notes ~ In the perfumery business the citrus notes impart a fresh, sparkling note to any blend. They are usually not overpowering. They are in the blends up to 25% as the base for classic types of eau de cologne and other perfumes. Citrus oils harmonize with many other essential oils and I use them in different concentrations in almost all scent blends and modern perfumes.

“In combination with Lavender oil, citrus oils are the base for English Lavender which is an 1826 creation. High concentrations of citrus oils are in Chanel No. 5 (1921). Also, of importance are the citrus oils in soda drinks like Coca-Cola and others.”³

CITRUS TOP NOTE PERFUME

Top note: 30 drops of a mixture of Grapefruit oil and Mandarin oil.
If you use the white Grapefruit or the green Mandarin your perfume will be brighter and cooler than if you use pink Grapefruit and red Mandarin.

Heart note: 20 drops of a mixture of Rose absolute and Orris root

Base note: 10 drops of Sandalwood oil and Ylang Extra

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Remember that there are 3 kinds of Grapefruit, 3 kinds of Mandarin, 20 kinds of Rose absolute, 4 kinds of Sandalwood. Depending on which you use will result in many different scents, all pleasant but all different.

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HYDROSOL ~ I have not yet had the opportunity to experience a Grapefruit hydrosol.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol is distilled specifically for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components, lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using the dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

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Historical Uses ~ Antiseptic.

paragraph from an historical text of 1750 — **from an Historical text**

Interesting Facts ~ Some histories suggest that Grapefruit “was introduced into the West Indies from China by Captain Shaddock and the fruit was thereafter known as ‘Shaddock fruit’. In 1809 the seeds traveled with Spanish settlers to the United States. Grapefruit was in the United States commercially beginning in 1880. In many parts of the world the waste products of this and other citrus fruits are ground and used as animal fodder”¹

Jeanne Rose perfumery bottle. — **Jeanne Rose perfume bottle**

Jeanne Rose’s Grapefruit Tomato Tales EO:

I made over 25 different aromatherapy kits over the last 35 years. One of these I called, “The Woman’s Kit” and contained both Grapefruit and Clary Sage. I used the Grapefruit/Clary Sage mix as follows: Inhaled is an adrenal stimulant, eased depression, to reduce hot flashes, to help the new mother relax. It was mildly intoxicating and with Geranium was a great inhalant for menopause symptoms, to ease nervousness, and to soothe PMS symptoms. This mixture was relaxing and euphoric and with Ylang-Ylang was an excellent inhaler and application for menstrual irregularities and for ‘grounding’.

Externally applied in products, this combination regenerates skin, reduces wrinkles and when you add Rosemary oil is applied to hair roots to stimulate growth. I have used a drop or two on a moist washcloth after a bath (wiping down the body after rinsing) for health and relaxation, diluted or with Clary Sage hydrosol to spray on the face for hot skin and during hot flashes. In a massage blend it assisted in the labor process and seemed to strengthen the inner organs. I consider Grapefruit and Clary Sage to be very good for all menstrual disorders.

Internally, I occasionally used one drop in warm water as gargle for sore throat.

•

Abstract/Scientific Data ~ Nootkatone, a characteristic constituent of grapefruit, stimulates energy metabolism and prevents diet-induced obesity by activating AMPK AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a serine/threonine kinase that is implicated in the control of energy metabolism. — 2010 – physiology.org

Medicinal Importance of Grapefruit Juice. Grapefruit juice is consumed widely in today’s health conscious world as a protector against cardiovascular diseases and cancers. It has however, been found to be an inhibitor of the intestinal cytochrome P – 450 3A4 system, which is responsible for the first pass metabolism of many drugs. The P – glycoprotein pump, found in the brush border of the intestinal wall which transports many of these cytochrome P – 450 3A4 substrates, has also been implicated to be inhibited by grapefruit juice. By inhibiting these enzyme systems, grapefruit juice alters the pharmacokinetics of a variety of medications, leading to elevation of their serum concentrations.⁴

Key Use ~ Antiseptic, skin care and tonic for the gall bladder.

•

Resources ~ Many thanks to Eden Botanicals for the lovely Grapefruit oils they supplied for my organoleptic studies.

pink flesh with yellow rind of Pomelo — **pink flesh Pomelo**

References

¹Essential Aromatherapy, p. 137.
²https://www.britannica.com/plant/grapefruit
³Ohloff, Günther: SCENT AND FRAGRANCES: Springer-Verlag. 1990. Translated by Pickenhagen and Lawrence
⁴ https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-6-33
⁵Guenther: THE ESSENTIAL OILS, volume III, Citrus oils: Krieger. 1949
⁶ Aspects of the antimicrobial efficacy of grapefruit seed extract and its relation to preservative substances contained.. (PMID:10399191)

Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose. 1992
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2000
Rose, Jeanne: 375 ESSENTIAL OILS AND HYDROSOLS; Frog, Ltd. 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California:
Staff of L.H. Baily Hortorium, Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants. Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, 1976.

General Resources

• Williams, David G.: THE CHEMISTRY OF ESSENTIAL OILS: Micelle Press. 1996.

• Another Fresh Start – Lunar New Year. Leaflet, Newsletter of the Strybing Arboretum. Winter 2002, Volume 26, No. 1.

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Safety Precautions ~ “A phototoxic reaction typically shows up as an exaggerated sunburn, usually occurring within 24 hours of sun exposure” as stated by the Skin Cancer Foundation. The primary essential oil culprits are typically cold-pressed citrus oils: Bergamot, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Wild Orange, and Tangerine.

If you take statins or heart medications do not drink Grapefruit juice unless you discuss this with your medical doctor.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

OPOPANAX RESIN EO Profile

Dec17

Synopsis ~ The oleo-gum-resin of Opopanax resin EO is a ‘tear’ has no scent and can be handled like a fragile rock. There are confusing names associated with Opopanax that have to do with historical references but are clarified in the article by Jeanne Rose.

Three types of essential oil of Opopanax resin EO, with two lumps of raw resin. — **Opopanax is an oleo-gum-resin. EO courtesy of Eden Botanicals and pieces of resin**

INTRODUCTION ~ Opopanax resin EO is another of the famous resins of the Orient; see also Myrrh and Olibanum (frankincense) on my blog https://jeanne-blog.com It is an Oleo-gum-resin, a term to describe oleo (oily or fatty in nature or look) gum (partly soluble in water) resin (partly or wholly soluble in alcohol). Therefore, an oleo-gum-resin has a nature that is partly soluble in water and alcohol and partly soluble in oil and looks oily. Consists mainly of oil, gum, and resin. It is liquid as it exudes and solidifies on contact with air and can be liquefied with alcohol. Examples are Myrrh, Frankincense, and Opopanax. https://jeanne-blog.com/resin-resinoids-gums-eo/

EO Profile & Naming •Latin Binomial/Botanical ~ Opopanax is an ancient tree resin and many species are called Opopanax including Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens (C. opobalsamum). Species includes Commiphora erythraea, C.guidottii, C. kataf, C. glabrescens, C. holtiziana and C. pseudopaoli. Opopanax is closely related to Myrrh, they are in the same genus but different species. The common name of Opopanax is a source of confusion in pharmacognosy and books, since three different products bear this name. Thus, O. chironium (Apiaceae) is not to be confused with perfumery’s opopanax, a gum-resin obtained from Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens of the family Burseraceae. Here it is most important that you know exactly what plant you want by Latin name and then common name and not the other way around.

Family ~Burseraceae. All members of this family are resinous. This species of the genus Commiphora are thorny bushes and small trees. We are not discussing the plants called opopanax from the Umbellifer (Apiaceae) family.

Endangered or Not ~ Some species of Opopanax are listed as critically endangered.

Countries of Origin ~ The Opopanax that I most carefully studied was from Eden Botanicals. The botanical name was Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens (a synonym of Commiphora gorinii Chiov.) and the country of origin was Somalia and it was distilled in Morocco.

Naming & Etymology ~ Other Names are Bisabol Myrrh, Balm of Mecca. The term “Opopanax”, meaning “all healing juice”, is a source of confusion, since it is also used for the gum latex from several Umbellifer species, Ferula opopanax, also known as Opopanax chironium (Umbelliferae aka Apiaceae family), e.g. from Opopanax chironium (Pastinaca opopanax)(Umbelliferae). It is indigenous to the Mediterranean area. Know what you want.

There are over a 100 species of Commiphora which includes the species called Myrrh and Opopanax. There is much confusion for the consumer in this group of plants.

General description of plant, habitat & growth ~ OPOPANAX: A resin, Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens (C. opobalsamum) family (Burseraceae) Bisabol Myrrh, Balm of Mecca. This is another of the famous resins of the Orient; see also Myrrh and Olibanum (frankincense).

Etymology: The term “Opopanax”, meaning “all healing juice”, (is a source of confusion, since this word is also used for the gum latex from several Umbellifer, see above in naming. All members of this family are resinous. The genus Commiphora are thorny bushes and small trees. They are important elements of the African dry-land vegetation.

Opopanax grows in Somalia (Africa’s Horn). It is a viscous exudate obtained by breaking the twigs. It solidifies to brown lumps of a warm-balsamic and sweet, honey-like fragrance. A resinoid is prepared by solvent extraction, and steam distillation of the resin gives an essential oil. They are both used in perfumes of the Oriental type. The main constituents of Opopanax oil are sesquiterpene hydrocarbons like alpha-santalene, alpha-bergamotene, and (Z)-alpha-bisabolene. According to Arctander, the olfactory difference between Myrrh oil and Opopanax oil is the vegetable-soup-like, slightly animalic-sweet odor of Opopanax oil compared with the medicinal-sharp freshness of Myrrh oil.

In Kenya, “Hagar is oily resin exudate from the stems of Commiphora holtziana. It oozes out and hardens to form lumps of various sizes and shapes with variable color from yellow to dark brown or black. Locally, Hagar is used as acaricide against ticks, snakebites, scorpions, foot rot, mange, and other livestock ailments. Commercially, it is a well-established herbal medicine, and used in essential oils and cosmetics.²”

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods & yield ~ The resin comes from the exudation from the bark. A resinoid is prepared from the resin by solvent extraction. Steam distillation of the resin gives the essential oil, which has a pleasant, warm, sweet, balsamic odor. Quality Opopanax has to be distilled from selected raw material and that requires knowledge of the plant. Much of this oil is ruined by poor distillation by inexperienced distillers who then sell their product. Opopanax oil and resinoid are used in perfumes with oriental style. An IFRA recommendation exists.

Yield ~ About 5 kilos of resin is required to yield one kilo of Opopanax essential oil.

Organoleptic Characteristics

	Color:	Pale Yellow
	Clarity:	clear
	Viscosity:	Non-viscous
	Taste:	bitter
	Intensity of Odor:	On a scale of 1-10, it is medium, about a 6-7.

Odor Description ~ Strongly spicy, vegetative, fruity and with a sharp spicy odor and somewhat animal-like undertone.

Solubility~ Opopanax is soluble in 10 volumes of 70% alcohol and some types are hazy in 10 volumes of 90% alcohol.

Chemical Components ~ A resinoid is prepared by solvent extraction, and steam distillation of the resin gives an essential oil. They are both used in perfumes of the Oriental type.

The main constituents of Opopanax oil are sesquiterpene hydrocarbons like alpha-santalene, alpha-bergamotene, and (Z)-alpha-bisabolene. According to Arctander, the olfactory difference between Myrrh oil and Opopanax oil is the vegetable-soup-like, slightly animalic-sweet odor of Opopanax oil compared with the medicinal-sharp freshness of myrrh.

GENERAL PROPERTIES OF OPOPANAX

Opopanax has been used in the past as an antispasmodic and when taken internally able to clear or open the natural ducts of the fluids and secretions of the body as an aperient.

Physical Uses & How used (AP) ~ Application ~ C. erythraea gums have been used for centuries in folk medicine for the treatment of cuts, bruises.

Extract of the gum of Commiphora erythraea Engler (Burseraceae), has larvicidal and repellent activity against the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.) and the American dog tick³

Emotional/Energetic Uses (AP or IN) ~ As with any of the resins they are often used by inhalation for calming and centering, to begin or end a ritual, or to modify another scent or in worship and purification.

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ Since Opopanax resin EO is from a resinous material it can be diffused by using a FanFuser on the scent disc but not from a glass enclosed diffuser — as the resin will clog the diffuser. The scent should be used as an accessory odor not the primary odor.

It is burned or inhaled in ritual for protection, for calming, for adding to another odor to make it more powerful, for cleansing and purification.

BLENDING &PERFUMERY ~ Its [Opopanax] power and ‘growth’ in a perfume is often underestimated; unless perfectly balanced with modifying and supporting materials, Opopanax oil has a tendency of ‘showing up’ in a rather unattractive manner after a short ageing period of the perfume. It blends well with “woody and heavy floral perfume bases, chypre, fougére-fern, leather and Oriental bases.”— Arctander.

“Used in perfumery industries, the essential oils prepared from the resins are well known. The essential oil of C. erythraea var. glabrescens, known as “opopanax”, is used in perfume of the Oriental type. The term “opopanax” is a source of confusion, since it is often used for the oil of different Commiphora genera, and for the gum latex oil of some Umbelliferae, for example Opopanax chironium.”¹

As with other resins, Opopanax resin EO is used in perfumery as a fixative and for its quiet balsamic note and often used in the base note for exotic scents.

Opopanax blends well with Bergamot, Conifer needle oils, Coriander seed, fern scents, Labdanum, leather scents, Clary Sage and Patchouli.

HYDROSOL ~ I have not as yet ever experienced an Opopanax hydrosol.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, and by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh to extract as much cellular water of the plant as possible.

Key Use~ Mainly natural Botanical Perfumery

Historical Uses ~ The original Opopanax that is discussed historically is the Umbellifer type and this might have been used in embalming. It is erroneously thought that the Opopanax we use at this time from family Burseraceae had the same use — however, this is not true.

Interesting Facts ~ Some aspects of the Opopanax may be used in the flavoring industry.

Science article ~ Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Commiphora erythraea, 2009 • The essential oil composition of Commiphora erythraea (Ehrenb) Engl. is reported for the first time. The oil is rich in sesquiterpenes, particularly furanosesquiterpenes (50.3%). GC-MS analysis of the oil permitted differentiation between C. erythraea and C. kataf, two often confused species.

References:

¹Marcotullio, Maria Carla * and etc. Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Commiphora erythraea. 2009
²Francis N. Gachathi, and Siri Eriksen. Gums and resins: The potential for supporting sustainable adaptation in Kenya’s drylands.
³An extract of Commiphora erythraea: a repellent and toxicant against ticks, J.F.Carroll , A.Maradufu , J.D. Warthen Jr., December 1989, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1570-7458.1989.tb01294

Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of NaturalOrigin. Elizabeth, NJ. 1960
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publ. Malabar, FL 1972
Langenheim, Jean H. Plant Resins. Timber Press, Portland. 2003. This is the best book on the subject
Mabberley, D.J., Mabberley’s Plant Book, 2008 Third Edition with 2014 updates, Cambridge University Press
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book

Use the essential oils in moderation.

Use the herb tea or resin when it is more appropriate.
Irritants: There is a moderate risk of skin sensitization, avoid use on hypersensitive, or damaged skin and on children less than 10 years of age; a maximum dermal use level of 0.6% is recommended. Dilute before using. Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.

Note: I would normally have underlined the word Opopanax so that wherever you see it you will be aware of which plant I am talking about. However, I was unable to do so with this blog post. I always try to capitalize the name of the herb or essential oil so that you will know I am speaking of the plant and not that particular color or taste.

Comments: I want to thank Eden Botanicals for their ongoing assistance to provide the new essential oils for these essential oil blog posts as well as their support to provide better information for the entire aromatherapy community.

Moderation in All Things.
Be moderate in your use of essential oils as they are just not sustainable for the environment.
Be selective and more moderate in your usage.
Use the herb first as tea or the infusion. —JeanneRose 2014

SEAWEED BATHS

Nov29

SEAWEED BATHS (1990-2018)

Collated/or written by Jeanne Rose

Synopsis ~ Seaweed has been in use for thousands of year — in diet, science, bathing and much more. Bathing in the weeds of the sea is healthful and nourishing for the skin and body. Start a seaweed bathing regimen now for better health and well-being.

Enniscrone Seaweed Baths, Ireland

INTRODUCTION

Early bathtub…Theory of Hydrostatics – Why you should take baths! Health, well-being and water science. Take a Seaweed Bath.

Archimedes lived in Syracuse, Greece, between 287 B.C. and his tragic death in 212 B.C. by murder. History records him as the greatest mathematical mind of pre-modern times, and the list of his discoveries and contributions to math and science is enormous. Young scholars today will most probably know him best from the story of how he sat in the bath, noticed how much water he was displacing, and came up with the theory of hydrostatics, or the time he worked out how to use underwater scales to determine the density of an object. The latter was another bath-time observation – one that got him so excited that he ran down the street naked yelling “Eureka!” at the top of his lungs.

Amber at the beach collecting Seaweed & Archimedes understanding displacement

Remember how good you feel after walking on the beach? You can see and smell that great odor in the air that is a mixture of salt, water and Seaweed? You swim or dive and see the waving fronds and the big bubbles of oxygen that bubble up from below. Seaweeds balance and purify the ocean through their growth and chemistry — they can do the same for your body. A hot seaweed bath is like a wet-steam sauna, only better, because the greens from the sea balance body chemistry instead of dehydrating it. The electromagnetic action of the seaweed acts as a diuretic/diaphoretic to release excess body fluids from congested cells; it can dissolve fatty wastes through the skin, and replacing them with minerals, especially potassium and iodine. Iodine boosts thyroid activity, so food fuels are used before they can turn into fatty deposits. Vitamin K in seaweeds boosts adrenal activity, meaning that a seaweed bath can help maintain hormone balance for a more youthful body.

Make Your Own Seaweed Spa Bath – nourishing and anti-aging … A Body Care Solution

Soak in your bathtub with a strand of Seaweed or make an infusion of mineral-rich Seaweed. This is very balancing, nourishing, and purifies and cleans the skin. It can equal a soak in Dead Sea salts or a day at the baths of a mineral springs. Seaweed baths are one of the most healthful experiences you can give yourself at home. Start your bathing regimen now and continue for the rest of your life. These are relaxing, deeply beneficial baths. You’ll feel refreshed, your skin will thank you, and you’ll be able to face the season feeling more nourished, grounded, and recharged. It is easy ~

Seaweed salad on the shore

Taking a Hot Seaweed Bath once a week stimulates lymphatic drainage and fat burning so you can keep off excess weight, reduce cellulite and rid your body of toxins. Seaweed baths are balancing, nourishing to the skin and detoxifying to the entire body.

There Are Several Ways to Use Seaweed in The Bath

Draw very hot water in a tub to ½ full. Put the seaweed into the tub and steep until it softens, and the water is cool enough to enter

Make a strong infusion in a large pot on the stove, simmering the seaweed for 10 – 15 minutes before straining and adding to hot bathwater.

OR put the seaweed into a muslin or silk bag.

[SILK CLOTH used for strainers or for straining herbs is made from the cocoon of the silk worm (Bombyx mori) – thus it is a protein. Since our bodies are also animal protein, the silk cloth can be used as a rub to dry the hair giving it resilience and beautiful shine. It can be used to hold herbs or Seaweed when taking a bath thus obviating the need for cooking, infusing and straining herbs or Seaweed before the bath. [Just fill the silk bag with what you want and pop into the tub.]

Infusion bag

Soak in the deep bath, covering the body as much as possible for a minimum of 22 minutes but 45 minutes to 1 hour is wonderful. Let hot water constantly trickle into the tub to maintain the temperature and to keep the water moving and oxygenating. Soak as long as possible to give the body time to absorb the mineral properties. (Rub the body with the seaweed solids during the bath for best results.) If you become overheated or uncomfortable, sit on the edge of the tub for 1 – 2 minutes. If a soft gel coating occurs on the skin during the Hot Seaweed Bath, this indicates that the seaweed’s gel mantle is interacting with the skin. This is perfectly normal and does not harm the therapeutic value of the bath. Gel consistency may vary.

✓ Alaria (Alaria esculenta): brown sea algae found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It is a good source of beta-carotene, iron, B vitamins and fiber.

✓Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) This is the Seaweed most often recognized when foraging on the coast. These classic brown Seaweeds form the massive ‘forest and canopy’ located just offshore – we see it along the coast in Monterey.

✓ Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus): packed with vitamin K—an excellent adrenal stimulant; still used today by native Americans in steam baths for arthritis, gout and illness recovery.

✓ Dulse (Palmaria palmata): a red sea plant rich in iron, protein, and vitamin A; tests on dulse show activity against viruses; purifying and tonic effects on the body, a supremely balanced nutrient. It is a very good source of vegetable protein, B₁₂, and vitamins C and E.

✓Feather Boa (Egregia menziesii) The “Feather Boa” Kelp This attractive olive brown seaweed kelp is fringed with rich chocolate brown blades. It can reach five meters in length and be found on moderate shores in the lower to mid-tidal zones.

Hijiki (Sargassum fusiforme, syn. Hizikia fusiformis) is a brown sea Vegetable growing wild on rocky coastlines around Japan, Korea, and China. The written kanji forms of its two names, which are examples of ateji, literally mean deer-tail grass and sheep-nest grass, respectively. Hijiki is a traditional food and has been a part of a balanced diet in Japan for centuries. Hijiki is known to be rich in dietary fiber and essential minerals such as calcium, iron, and magnesium. According to Japanese folklore, Hijiki aids health and beauty, and thick, black, lustrous hair is connected to regular consumption of small amounts of Hijiki. Hijiki has been sold in United Kingdom natural products stores for 30 years and Hijiki’s culinary uses have been adopted in North America.

Recent studies have shown that Hijiki contains potentially toxic quantities of inorganic arsenic, and the food safety agencies of several countries (excluding Japan), including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have advised against its consumption. Known also as Sargassum.

✓Kelp, Horsetail (Laminaria digitata, Oarweed): a mineral rich, brown marine plant containing vitamins A, B, E, D and K; a significant source of vitamin C; works as a blood purifier, relieves stiffness, and promotes adrenal, pituitary and thyroid health; Kelp contains sodium alginate (algin), an element that helps remove radioactive particles and heavy metals from the body; algin, carrageenan and agar are kelp gels that rejuvenate gastrointestinal health and aid digestion; Kelp’s natural iodine can normalize thyroid-related problems like overweight and lymph system congestion.

Soup Mix from “Maine Seaweed” — Digitata is highest in iodine, Alaria is highest in calcium. “I’ve settled on this blend because it is a balanced representation of the brown seaweeds that are rich in minerals and iodine, it delivers the nutrients dissolved in water so that our digestion can absorb them, and everyone who uses soup mix on a regular basis reports better health, sense of deep nourishment and well-being. When a customer asks, “How much should I eat?” I reply, “3-5 grams per day, or about three pounds per year, dry weight. This will give you enough dietary iodine to protect your thyroid from radioactive iodine, and your bones will thank you for the minerals that help maintain a healthy alkaline bloodstream that nourishes them.”

✓Kombu (Laminaria longicruris) or Laminaria saccharina: decongestant for excess mucous; has abundant iodine, carotenes, B, C, D and E vitamins, minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, silica, iron and zinc; also contains the powerful skin healing nutrient germanium.

Laver or Nori (Porphyra laciniata): Nori is a red algae and is purple-black in color – a seaweed common to the North Atlantic Ocean. This is a very good source of vegetable protein, B₁₂, and vitamins C and E.

✓Sea Palm (Postelsia palmaeformis): American arame grows only on the Pacific Coast of North America; good source of detoxifying algin. Grows on the rocky shore and where there is constant wave action; it is a good source of detoxifying algin, to eat, to use in skin care and use in baths. It is an annual, goes through an alternation of generations, it is delicious, but harvesting is discouraged and restricted and even illegal in certain Western states where it has been over-harvested.

✓Turkish Towel … Chondracanthus spp. Also called Turkish Washcloth or Tarspot Mastocarpus sp. (whip body). This low intertidal and sub tidal red seaweed looks like a piece of bath towel and actually has been used by native peoples for bathing. These species have accumulated a pile of names over the years including three complete scientific names. Dedicated Seaweed experts (phycologists) realized two forms that look nothing alike were just stages of the same species It’s a common group, so you’ve likely seen both forms; the encrusting stage gets old (90 plus years) and looks remarkably like a spot of tar on the rocks. The blade stage is covered in little bumps and along with its relative (Turkish towel or Chondracanthus) is popular among the growing fringe of sensual seaweed bathers.

THE VARIOUS SEAWEED BATHS – all taken by Jeanne Rose

p.6. Seaweed Bath – Alaria Alaria esculenta is an edible seaweed, also known as dabberlocks or badderlocks, or winged kelp. This is a brown sea algae found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It is a good source of beta-carotene, iron, B vitamins and fiber. It is a traditional food along the coasts of the far North Atlantic Ocean. It may be eaten fresh or cooked as is done in Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, and Ireland. It is the only one of twelve species of Alaria to occur in the British Isles. Harvested in Maine, Alaria is a great substitute for Wakame as it is so similar to traditional Japanese Wakame. Alaria is the most delicate of the brown seaweeds. It can be used to create a soup with a wild, yet delicate flavor. Alaria, as with many sea vegetables, contains many of the vitamins and minerals needed to live a healthy life.

In the bath Alaria opens up quite nicely, I wrap it in a mesh sock and use it to scrub my skin. The combination of hot water and seaweed makes hot seaweed bath. Use the mesh bag to scrub your skin and release the algin on the skin and in the bath. Very nice!

Alaria Fresh in the ocean……………………….

p.7. Seaweed Bath -Bull Kelp – (Nereocystis luetkeana) This is the Seaweed most often recognized when foraging on the coast. These classic brown Seaweeds form the massive ‘forest and canopy’ located just offshore. Bull kelp is whip-like with long thin hollow stalk leading to a floating bulb, with several long thin blades arising from the bulb. Bull kelp is annual seaweed—meaning it grows from a spore to maturity within a single year. It can grow an impressive 20 meters in only one season.

Uses: High in vitamins & minerals, particularly potassium, protein & free amino acids. Fun bath herb. You can cut the hollow ‘stems’ into slices and dry them for baths later on. They contain lots of salt and you will not need to add salts to your bath.

Bull Kelp

8. Seaweed Bath – Dulse (Palmaria palmata) It is also known as red dulse, sea lettuce flakes or creathnach, is a red alga (Rhodophyta) previously referred to as Rhodymenia palmata (Linnaeus) Greville. It grows on the northern coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. a red sea plant with somewhat leathery straps, rich in iron, protein, and vitamin A. Dulse is commonly used in Ireland, Iceland, Atlantic Canada and the Northeast United States as food and medicine. In Iceland, where it is known as söl, it has been an important source of fiber throughout the centuries. It can be found in many health food stores or fish markets and can be ordered directly from local distributors.

In Iceland the tradition is to eat it with butter. It can be pan fried quickly into chips, baked in the oven covered with cheese, with salsa, or simply microwave briefly. It can be used in soups, chowders, sandwiches and salads, or added to bread/pizza dough. Finely diced, it can be used as a flavor enhancer in meat dishes, such as chili, in place of monosodium glutamate. Fresh Dulse can be eaten directly off the rocks before sun drying. Sun-dried Dulse is eaten as is or is ground to flakes or a powder.
Tests on Dulse show activity against viruses; purifying and tonic effects on the body, and as a supremely balanced nutrient. It is a very good source of vegetable protein, B₁₂, and vitamins C and E. It is a well-known snack food. Dulse contains iodine, which prevents goiter.

I like to use it in baths and prefer to put it into a mesh bag so that pieces do not break up and do not run down the drain and possibly plug it up. Dulse feels great on the skin and when dried and powdered is used in facial masks.

p.9. Seaweed Bath – Feather Boa Kelp (Egregia menziesii) This attractive olive brown seaweed kelp is fringed with rich chocolate brown blades. It can reach five meters in length and be found on moderate shores in the lower to mid-tidal zones. It is native to the coastline of western North America from Alaska to Baja California, where it is common kelp of the intertidal zone. It is dark brown in color, shiny and bumpy in texture, and may reach over five meters long. It grows a branching stipe from a thick holdfast. It bears long, flat, strap like fronds lined with small blades each a few centimeters long. There are pneumatocysts (a floating structure that contains gas) at intervals along the fronds that provide buoyancy. The alga varies in morphology; the rachis, or central strip, of the frond may be smooth or corrugated, and the blades along the edge of the rachis may be a variety of shapes.

This is another wonderful bath herb. This seaweed has a lot of algin and after the bath the feather boas can be dried and then reused for up to 3 more times in baths or skin compress. Use a panty hose leg or a mesh bag of some sort in which to put the seaweed.

Caution: Feather boa ‘feathers’ and little pieces of kelp will get loose in the water. This has the ability to plug up your drain all the way to the city sewer outlet. So, remember to bag it up before using in the bath.

–Hijiki – Do not use as it may contain arsenic.

10. Seaweed Bath – Fucus – Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus). Fucus is a versatile medicinal herb of the ocean. Fucus also called Rockweed was used mainly for healing people, as a dressing to treat sores and swollen feet, or fresh, rubbed on legs and feet to treat aches, pains and locomotor ataxia (paralysis of the legs). It is packed with vitamin K—an excellent adrenal stimulant; and is still used today by native Americans in steam baths for arthritis, gout and illness recovery. Rockweed, was mixed with yellow cedar boughs (Cupressus nootkatensis) in steam baths to treat rheumatism. This seaweed is available in Maine and is a very nice in a bath for the mucilage and algin. Another of my favorite baths.

Eat this healthy weed for good health as it was the original source of iodine. This was learned in 1811, and was used extensively to treat goiter, a swelling of the thyroid gland related to iodine deficiency (some people may suffer an allergic reaction to the iodine). It is sometimes used for steaming littleneck clams with butter in a steam pit. (A steam pit is a big hole in the ground with hot coals and rocks in it).

Rockweed was also used with eelgrass for steaming wood to make it soft and flexible. Some of the things made from steamed wood are boxes and halibut hooks.

11. Seaweed Bath – ✓Kombu (Laminaria longicruris) or Laminaria saccharina is a decongestant for excess mucus; has abundant iodine, carotenes, B, C, D and E vitamins, minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, silica, iron and zinc; and it also contains the powerful skin healing nutrient germanium. Kombu, particularly L. longicruris, is my go-to bath. It is easy to use, comes in nice 6-inch pieces that expand to about 8-inches. It provides a nice amount of algin to soothe your skin.
L. saccharina, or Sugar Kelp is used in the bath but is better as a facial. Soak a piece in warm water, wait for a bit, squeeze out the gooey stuff, mix with clay or a skin-mask, apply to your face, let it dry while you bathe and then rinse off with warm water followed by a splash of hydrosol. Fantastic! Seaweed baths are balancing, nourishing, and purifying.

In the ocean, Kombu dried and on the table, and then in the bath.

Ryan Drum collects and dries the most beautiful seaweeds and he is a proponent of his craft. He uses what he collects for health and well-being.

12. Seaweed Bath – Laver (Porphyra laciniata) Laver is also known as Nori belonging to the Red algae or Rhodophyta. It is purple-black seaweed common to the North Atlantic Ocean. This is a very good source of vegetable protein, B₁₂, and vitamins C and E. Porphyra is a coldwater seaweed that grows in cold, shallow seawater. More specifically, it is a foliose red algal genus of laver, comprising approximately 70 species. It grows in the intertidal zone, typically between the upper intertidal zone and the splash zone in cold waters of temperate oceans.

I would rather eat this one than bathe in it.

13. Seaweed Bath – Sea Palm (Postelsia palmaeformis): American arame, a brown algae, grows only on the Pacific Coast of North America on the rocky shore and where there is constant wave action; it is a good source of detoxifying algin, to eat, to use in skin care and use in baths. It is an annual, goes through an alternation of generations, it is delicious, but harvesting is discouraged and restricted and even illegal in certain Western states where it has been over-harvested.

Sea Palm has special protections and NO Collection is allowed anywhere on the Oregon coast. Native Americans have some access to Sea Palm and if once you can get one – try it in the bath and try some to eat.

14. Seaweed Bath -Turkish Towel … Chondracanthus spp. This low intertidal and sub tidal red seaweed looks like a piece of bath towel and actually has been used by native peoples for bathing. Main blades are up to 80 cm (32 in.) and half as wide. They are un-branched and covered with bumps called papillae that may be associated with reproductive structures or may be vegetative features. The base of the blade tapers to a short stipe and discoid holdfast. There may also be several smaller blades arising from the stipe. Blade color is reddish purple to yellow. This genus used to be called Gigartina.

Bathing ~ Lucky you if you are able to get some and sit in a warm Rosemary/Seaweed bath. The Turkish towel is soothing and healing to the skin. This is one of my favorite baths as the Seaweed is bumpy, and if rubbed on the skin exfoliates as it releases the algin, I use it along with Rosemary as a skin rejuvenator. You can also add a halved Orange or Lemon to the bath added skin care.

p.15. Seaweed as medicine is an ingredient used in various lotions, salves, applications to cure at least five major diseases. It has been in medicines used to treat tuberculosis, arthritis, colds, and influenza and worm infections. Agar, a substance extracted from seaweed, is used in the culture of bacteria and other microorganisms. Petri plates that medical technicians use is lined with agar gels and incubated, and hospital laboratories use agar plates too to identify various types of infectious bacteria. Agarose is another substance extracted from seaweeds and commonly used in the area of medicine, specifically in chromatography to purify proteins, DNA and other substances.

Malto-dextrin is used in bath salt formulas so that the salts do not harden or clump. Use 1 oz/lb. salt.

Essential oils can be added to Seaweed baths ~ use only a 1-2 drops per bath. Oils that are floral do not work well with Seaweed, use the Mediterranean herbs and oils like Rosemary, Lemon scented ones, or citrus such as Orange peels and EO or Lemon peel and EO. I prefer to use Eden Botanicals oils as they are correctly sourced, from the correct part of the plant and have superb odor.

Very large tea infuser ball

SEA AND BATH FORMULAS

Bath Salts Formula for Ageless Skin and Relaxing Moments© Jeanne Rose from July 13, 2004

Directions: For 9 baths of 4-ounces each, mix as follows:
Ingredients:
14 oz XXL salt crystals (Brazil salts* are good) is Sodium chloride 95%
14 oz Epsom Salts * Magnesium sulfate
7 oz Dead Sea Salts* (Magnesium chloride 35%, Potassium chloride 24%, 40% other salt)
2 drops blue color
2 drops green color
50 drops essential oil. Use equal parts of Bulgarian Lavender, Bergamot, and Rosemary verbenone

How To: Mix all together, let it rest for 24-36 hours, divide up into 9 muslin bags. Label. (It will be about 5-6 drops/bath). With every bath you take, add one of the muslin bags and one frond of Seaweed. Some seaweed will grow from a 8-inch size piece to two-feet long. Remember to bag those seaweeds that have a tendency to break apart. And also some of them can be dried and reused several times.

*I get all my salts from Saltworks™, Inc.

Citrus Solstice Seaweed Bath – Whole yuzu fruits (or Orange) are floated in the hot water of the Seaweed bath, sometimes enclosed in a cloth bag, releasing their aroma. The fruit may also be cut in half, allowing the citrus juice to mingle with the bathwater. The yuzu bath, known commonly as yuzuyu, but also as yuzuburo, is said to guard against colds, treat the roughness of skin, warm the body, and relax the mind.

Resources:
Fabulous seaweed can be obtained from the east coast – Larch Hanson at http://theseaweedman.com/
Or from the west coast – Ryan Drum at http://www.ryandrum.com
Essential oils are best from http://www.edenbotanicals.com
Salts from Saltworks™, Inc.
Seaweeds from Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company, or from above sources.

Bibliography:
Rose, Jeanne. SPA Booklet. 2012. /books.html
Various articles about Seaweed.
Drum, Ryan www.ryandrum.com/
http://www.aromaticplantproject.com/articles_archive/bath_salt.html
https://jeanne-blog.com/bath-water-and-bathing-stuff/ for more information on bathing and bathing tools.

BATHS – See individual listings in the SPA Book for different baths and therapies.

Showers are to clean the body while baths are to heal the mind and body and used ritually to cleanse the spirit.

Hydrotherapy is a system of therapeutic bathing rituals or various therapeutic baths to aid in the healing of various systems of the body. It has been prescribed since before the Roman baths were born with their distinct and separate rooms of various temperature baths.

However, full body immersion is the key to cleansing the body of illness and with modern baths where only the lower part of the body is fully immersed – this does not lend itself to a healing experience. In a modern bath, one must lay down flat on your back in the tub with the legs up and out in order to get the proper healing effects. Worried about your hair? Wear a shower cap.

In a bath/hydrotherapy treatment, it is important to use three baths per week of 20-30 minutes each. The temperature of the water is not important. Start with warm baths, add Seaweeds, Moor mud, various types of salts, herbs and/or hydrosols.

A simple bath is the infused herbs of any fresh plants that you have available with 2-5 drops of a complimentary essential oils. i.e. Citrus peels infusion plus citrus and Patchouli [1-3 drops of previously mixed Grapefruit, Lemon, Orange, + 3 drops Patchouli].

For example, for hypertension, shower and clean first, then fill the tub and use body temperature water (98°F), add 1 cup of Melissa hydrosol, add the appropriate 2-3 drops essential oils, soak for 20 minutes, wrap in a large towel, drink a cup of your Hypertension Tea Blend and go to bed. Melissa is the most useful, but Lavender or Rose Geranium hydrosols can also be used. Don’t have hydrosols? Use herbal infusions of the herbs mentioned.

Balneotherapy is the treatment of disease by bathing, especially in mineral springs. (The use of the minerals in hot springs for therapeutic bathing). Balneotherapy (spa therapy) is the act of bathing in thermal or mineral waters at temperatures of about 36 C. The hydrostatic force of the water is thought to bring about pain relief, which may result from taking stress off the affected joint, relaxation or other factors. It is most commonly recommended for patients with psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis.

The hot springs gradually increases the temperature of the body, which helps to kill harmful germs and viruses. Bathing in mineral springs increases static water pressure on the body, which increases blood circulation and oxygenation of the cell. This increase in blood flow also helps to dissolve and eliminate ‘toxins’ from the body. Mineral and Hot springs bathing increases the flow of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, improving hydration and nourishment to vital organs and tissues.

Bathing in thermal water increases body metabolism, including stimulating the secretions of the intestinal tract and the liver, aiding digestion. Repeated hot springs bathing (especially over 3- to 4- week period) can help normalize the functions of the endocrine glands as well as the functioning of the body’s autonomic nervous system. Trace amounts of minerals such as carbon dioxide, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, and lithium are absorbed by the body and provide healing effects to various body organs and system. These healing effects can include stimulation of the immune system, leading to enhanced immunity; physical and mental relaxation; the production of endorphins; and normalized gland function.

Mineral springs contain high amounts of negative ions, which can help promote feelings of physical and psychological well-being.

The direct application of mineralized thermal waters (especially those containing sulfur) can have a therapeutic effect on diseases of the skin, including psoriasis, dermatitis, and fungal infections. Some mineral waters are also used to help the healing of wounds and other skin injuries.

Indications for Balneotherapy are the chronic diseases such as: Chronic rheumatic diseases, Metabolic diseases, especially diabetes, obesity, and gout, chronic gastrointestinal or respiratory diseases, circulatory diseases, especially moderate or mild hypertension, chronic skin diseases, psychosomatic and stress-related diseases, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, vibration disorder (a middle ear disorder affecting balance), chronic gynecological diseases and other ailments.

See for many formulas and enroll in our Aromatherapy Course-Home & Family.

Fangotherapy (fango = mud from Italy thermal springs) or pelotherapy is volcanic ash or mud used with thermal springs in curative treatment at SPAs. It can also mean any clay or mud used in therapy. In California there is only one hot springs using the true Fangotherapy — Indian Springs in Calistoga, CA.

Hydrotherapy is the use of water for the treatment of disorders, especially externally by immersion or use of water in any way as a treatment. Water used in therapy, especially as compress, packs, masks, wraps, hot water, cold water, sprays, immersion, cold water, hot water, etc. You can also use the leftover water in the still as part of a hydrotherapy treatment.

Hydrosol therapy is the use of hydrosols with any other hydrotherapy to affect change in the body. A hydrosol is the non-alcoholic water solution obtained from plant distillation. It is the solution in which the liquid constituent is water that contains the micro-drops of essential oils and the infused properties of the plants that were distilled.

Pelotherapy (pelo from the Greek word for clay or mud) is the therapeutic application of mud to the body. It is used in conjunction with other forms of therapy especially hydrotherapy, balneotherapy or thalassotherapy.

Thalassotherapy is the use of seawater or seaweeds as a therapeutic treatment. Thalasso comes from the ancient Greek meaning ‘ocean’. Thalasso-therapy uses the nutrients in seawater, Seaweed. The different nutrients found in the sea help to nourish and cleanse the body. The theory is seawater has practically the same chemical make-up as human plasma, so the body easily absorbs the water that is rich with nutrients from indigenous plants or plant matter. See the salt bath article at SPA Book.

A Series of Baths.

For a good series of baths for the health of your body, think of taking the following in a series; one every day or a different one every other day. You can add mineral water to any of the salt baths.
|
Dead Sea Salt Bath
Oat meal bath
Epsom Salt Bath
Herbal Bath of Rosemary and Comfrey with Hydrosol
Seaweed Bath
Salt Bath
Moor mud Bath or Mud Bath

A Short History of Bathing before 1601

“One of the most stupid calumnies on the manners of the Catholic Middle Ages was that bathing was forbidden,
that it was seldom practiced, and the like.”
— Thomas J. Shanan, The Middle Ages: Sketches and Fragments

Seaweed on the beach at Garrapata State Park – 2014

Bath Herb Limerick
Baths relax and cool the emotions
They remind you of the deep blue ocean
Showers are nice
They remove all the lice
But baths clean the soul of commotion…. JeanneRose 2012

How to Take a Soaking Bath by Jeanne Rose

Take a quick shower with soap- to clean your skin
2.Open the taps in the tub and to the tub add the herbs-salts-goodies-essential oils
3.Run the water hot but not boiling.
4.Use 4-6 ounces of your bath salts per bath and soak at least 22 minutes. This is the time it takes for the toxics to get moving and to be released into the tub and out of the body.
5.Get in. If the tub is small and your shoulders ache, lie flat on the bottom to soak your shoulders; if the tub is small and your legs ache, sit upright and thinking relaxing thoughts; if everything aches take turns soaking one part and then the other OR get a big Victorian tub.
6.Get out of tub and wrap in a blanket or towel, do not rub dry. Go to bed to get the full effects of the bath.
7.Think of your happy place, smell your favorite essential oil and sleep and dream the dreams.

Take a class http:///courses.html

MASTIC EO & Herb Resin

Oct26

Synopsis ~ Mastic EO & Herb resin to understand the nature of Mastic; its description, distillation methods, particular plant properties, uses, and science.

MASTIC Essential Oil &/or Herb Resin Profile

By Jeanne Rose and other sources ~ 2018

Mastic cream & Oleoresin

INTRODUCTION ~ This is the last of the resins, I will discuss. Mastic EO & Herb resin. In prior months I have written about Amber, Balsam of Peru/Tolu, Benzoin/Storax, Elemi, Frankincense, Galbanum, Labdanum/Cistus, Myrrh, Opopanax and also a general article about Resins. I love the resins; I love to burn them for magic and ritual and above all use the essential oils of them in healing blends and via inhalation. I hope that you have enjoyed the series. If you missed any, please go to the ‘Home’ page and look up the resin you wish to read about.

Common Name/Latin Binomial: Gum Mastic / (Pistacia lentiscus L.) is an oleoresin with very little oil obtained from a flowering shrub.

Other Common Name/Naming Information: Mastic also called Gum Mastic / (Pistacia lentiscus L.) or Chios Mastic Gum in Greece. The word “masticate” comes from an ancient Greek word from the Greek practice of chewing this interestingly flavorful resin as a gum and in addition to freshen the breath and to fight tooth decay.

Family: Anacardiaceae

Countries of Origins: Mastic EO & Herb resin is known from Greece, but grows in Mediterranean Europe and Northern Africa Algeria, Morocco and the Canary Islands. Only the true Mastic tree, var. chia, has the true qualities that are desirable. It is true to its terroir and this variety grows well only in the specific area that has this perfect terroir, the southeast corner of the island of Chios, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea.

Endangered or Not: A tree called Mastic (species unknown) is considered critically endangered on the Cayman Islands. The Pistacia lentiscus is considered threatened and endangered.

General description of Plant habitat and growth: The Mastic tree, Pistacia lentiscus, is a flowering shrub with a strong smell of resin, a dioecious tree with separate male and female plants. It is an evergreen from 1 to 5 m high and grows in dry and rocky areas in Mediterranean Europe. The leaves are alternate, leathery, and compound with five or six pairs of deep-green leaflets but no terminal leaflet. It has very small flowers, the male flowers are vivid red with five stamens, the female green flowers with a 3-part style. The fruit is a drupe (a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed). It is first red and then black when ripe, about 4 mm in diameter.

The oleoresin is produced primarily in the secretory tissues of the bark of stems and branches.

“Mastic resin collecting is restricted to the southeastern corner of the island of Chios. The resin is collected by making small cuts made in the bark of the main branches and then allowing the trees to drip the sap onto the specially prepared ground below. The harvesting is done during the summer between July and October. After the Mastic is collected, it is washed manually and is set aside to dry, away from the sun, as it will start melting again.”³

Portion of the plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields: Mastic is a resin, or more correctly an oleoresin containing a little oil, obtained from an evergreen dioecious shrub, Pistacia lentiscus L. This small bushy tree occurs throughout much of the Mediterranean region and is also found in North Africa. It produces the natural oleoresin from the trunk, which is obtained by wounding the trunk and larger branches with a gouge-like instrument which makes an incision about 2 cm long and 3 mm deep. Mastic occurs in yellow or greenish-yellow rounded or pear-shaped tears about 3 mm in diameter. The tears are brittle but become plastic when chewed. An essential oil is produced by steam distillation from the oleoresin or occasionally directly from the leaves and branches. 160-170 tonnes per annum from male plants on Chios.

[In Greece to get the Mastic from the Mastic tree, is very precise work and takes all summer. First, the ground around the tree is cleaned. After this, the tree is carved with a special needle to a depth of about 3 mm. Now the Mastic flows slowly from the tree. The first Mastic is collected after fifteen days when the Mastic has become more solid.]

The yield is 0.7-1 and occasionally up to 3% EO.

Organoleptic Characteristics of Mastic:
Color                           EO is pale yellow
Clarity                          Clear
Viscosity                      Very slightly viscous
Taste                           Bitter (We do not recommend ingestion-only chewing of the resin)
Intensity of odor         5

Intensity scale guide to gauge the Intensity of odor: On a scale of 1-10 if Usnea is a 1, Lavender a 2, and Tea Tree a 5 and Cinnamon or Massoia is 8; then Mastic is about 5-6 in intensity.

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment: The Mastic odor is green, with strong smoky, herbaceous and fruity notes and hints of spice, citrus, conifer, wood and leather. Excellent to use in a gentleman’s fragrance or for a brunette woman.

Taste: I am at a loss to describe the taste of Mastic and have been chewing the gum and tasting the sweet for weeks, even years, for a valid description. I suggest that you give it a try as it is a very special savor, most memorable. It starts out floral and slightly bitter and then smooths its way to herbal and floral. Delicious!

GENERAL PROPERTIES of MASTIC:

The essential oil is produced by steam distillation from the oleoresin or occasionally directly from the leaves and branches. It is considered antimicrobial, antiseptic, antispasmodic, diuretic, astringent, expectorant and stimulant. Mastic (Pistacia lentiscus) resin and EO has a plethora of qualities and uses. The resin is said to absorb cholesterol when masticated and is an antibacterial and acts as an oral antiseptic, tightens the gums, helps digestion, heals wounds and scientists recently discovered that when it is administrated in small doses it cures stomach ulcers. The EO is used to heal external skin problems.

Mastic varnish has been in use for thousands of years and primarily from the male trees and used to protect oil and watercolor paintings. The varnish is also used in lithography and cement for precious stones¹.

Properties and Uses: Gum Mastic is used in medicine, pharmaceutical products like medical creams, dental tooth paste, cures for ulcer; it is used in the paint industry, cosmetics, paint varnish, and in artist color oil. In the food industry gum Mastic is used in liqueurs, ice-cream, for pure Mastic gum, chewing gum and the most precious of all — Mastic EO. After the oil is removed a small very durable and pliable bit of chewing gum is left that lasts for a long time without disintegrating. This is the old Worlde chewing gum while Spruce and Pine gums were traditionally chewed in the USA and Canada.

It is suggested by Franchomme and Daniel Pénoël that Mastic EO can assist cardiovascular function. It also is useful as an inhalant for assisting bronchitis, coughs and colds, and application muscular aches and pains. An interesting oil.

**APPLICATION/ SKINCARE: GUM MASTIC (Pistacia lentiscus)**

Mastic is widely used in the preparation of ointments for skin afflictions like burns and eczema, frostbite, cancers, as well as other external skin afflications, including the manufacture of plasters. Mastic EO is used in products as well both for this effect and its scent.

Skin Care Recipe
A teaspoon of any unscented cleansing creams with a slight drop of Mastic EO works well in cleansing the skin. Apply and gently massage into the skin for 10 seconds, then take a warm wet washcloth to warm the skin, then gently wipe. This is great in the morning as a wakeup ritual.
This is also considered to be rejuvenative.

Other Uses: Mastic is found in varnishes.

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION: Since Mastic oil is from a resinous material it can be diffused by using a FanFuser on the scent disc but not from a glass-enclosed diffuser as the resin and will clog the diffuser. The scent should be used as an accessory odor not the primary odor.

Fan Diffuser

EMOTIONAL/ENERGETIC USE: Aleister Crowley considered Mastic to be pale yellow energetically and clean and free from prejudice whether for or against any moral idea. It is used in a ritual blend to intensify them and quicken their rate of vibration. Mastic is used as an incense for Pisces people.

HERBAL USE OF MASTIC: The Mastic fruit (berries) can be crushed to obtain an oil which is used in a liquor or they can be used whole to flavor sausages. The leaf and stem of the plants are burned to smoke meats. Masticha is often prepared in a liquid form, mixed with honey or sugar, and spooned into cold water as the main flavor for a refreshing drink. “In Greece it is mixed with sugar and water to form a thick white cream eaten by the spoonful with dark bitter coffee.” — 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols.
Pistacia lentiscus is used occasionally as a chewing resin to improve the breath, prevent tooth decay and heal the gums.

Bathing: Francis Bacon’s prescription for a bath is as follows, “First, before bathing, rub and anoint the Body with Oyle, and Salves, that the Bath’s moistening heate and virtue may penetrate into the Body, and not the liquor’s watery part: then sit 2 houres in the Bath; after Bathing wrap the Body in a seare-cloth made of Masticke, Myrrh, Pomander and Saffron, for staying the perspiration or breathing of the pores, until the softening of the Body, having layne thus in seare-cloth 24 hours, bee growne solid and hard. Lastly, with an oynment of Oyle, Salt and Saffron, the seare-cloth being taken off, anoint the Body.” (cited by Classen, Howes & Synnott)

Culinary Use: “One typical spoon sweet is from the island of Chios called the ‘ipovrichio’ or submarine. It can be flavored with vanilla or is made from mastic resin, for which the Aegean island is famous. This is a sugary fondant to be served on a teaspoon and dipped into a glass of ice-cold water, thus why it is referred to as a submarine. Once you get your spoon submerged, the fondant softens, and you go to work licking the spoon like a fondant lollipop of sorts. This dessert is loved by children and adults alike. During the summer you will see people at the beach or cafeterias enjoying a submarine. Although as mentioned the typical flavors are vanilla and mastic, if you opt to make the sweet dessert at home, you can also add fresh berry juices to flavor and experience a glimpse of summertime traditions in Greece.”

Mastic – Tomato Tales

Mastic is a translucent sticky substance similar to tree sap, and when combined with sugar, lemon juice, and water is served on a spoon immersed in cold water. This is a special treat called a spoon sweet. In Greece this ‘spoon sweet’ specialty is called a Submarine. I find it delicious!

In 1993, I had a very formal 8-course meal for friends and for the 7^th course was a cheese course of Roquefort with Aromatherapy sweetmeats of Bergamot candied peels, Bitter Orange candied peels and Mastic sweet on Lavender Honey Thins with a delicious wine of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. It was a very successful meal.

AROMATHERAPY SALONS

Years ago, I would have meetings in my home with women that I called “Aromatherapy Salons”. We would discuss various aromatic subjects, aromatherapy, essential oils and drink fragrant tea, have tea cookies and sweetmeats. (A sweetmeat is a delicacy, prepared with sugar, honey, or the like, as preserves, candy, or, formerly, cakes or pastry. Usually, they are any sweet delicacy of the confectionery or candy kind, as candied fruit, sugar-covered nuts, sugarplums, bonbons, or balls or sticks of candy) One of my favorites sweetmeats was to use the Mastic from Greece that came as a smooth sweet white cream; a small spoonful on a cookie with tea was delicious but it was especially tasty with bitter coffee.

•Chewing Mastic. In 2018 at a Resin Distillation Conference in Spokane, WA., I asked several well-known gum-chewers [thankyou Monica and Kendall] if they wanted to try Mastic. “Yes, of course” they said, but in fact they were unable to learn to chew it or even try past 30 minutes. This is great gum and can be chewed for 4 hours without losing its eponymous taste and it is good for the teeth.

And the occasional chewing of a Mastic ball will ease the pain of a tooth carie or cavity, act as a mouth antibacterial and has in the past been used as a temporary tooth filling. Remember this when you travel out of country to carry some Mastic resin with you; both to burn as a magical fragrant incense but also as a first aid remedy.

Really, we are forgetting some our simplest first-aid skills!

Chewing Mastic: Mastic is tasteless in a tasty way and a small tear (piece) can be chewed for hours without seeming to melt away. Since it does not have a strong taste, it doesn’t get tiring to chew like American chewing gum. I put a small tear in my mouth when writing this part of the article, slowly let it soften in my mouth and then chewed it a bit and still had it in my mouth three hours later. It was pleasant to chew. I also love Chicle but think I like Mastic more.

The taste is floral with a bitter edge. As you hold it in your mouth, saliva begins to flow which softens the Mastic, chewing becomes easier and the floral taste softens and becomes quite pleasant.

Key Use: Resin is a masticatory and also used to burn to cleanse spaces and EO in skin care.

Use the essential oils in moderation. Use the herb tea or resin when it is more appropriate.

Chemical Components: The main components were α-pinene (58.86–77.10%), camphene (0.75–1.04%), β-pinene (1.26–2.46%), myrcene (0.23–12.27%), linalool (0.45–3.71%), and β-caryophyllene (0.70–1.47%). These six components total more than 90% of the oil. Another source found (E)-methyl isoeugenol as well.

Physiochemical Properties from Guenther:
Specific Gravity at 15° is 0.857 to 0.903
Optical Rotation is +22°0’ to +35°0’
Refractive Index at 20° is 1.468 to 1.476
Solubility only sparingly soluble in 4-10 vol. of 90% alcohol. Up to 5 vol. are required for solution, which is not clear, turning opalescent to turbid on more addition of alcohol.

Blends Best with: Citrus scents, Lavender-fern combos as a top note and in floral odors. In perfume use the tincture as a fixative. I enjoy using Mastic in massage blends.

Jeanne Rose Formulas and Recipes for Mastic EO & Herb resin

I like to use Mastic EO & Herb resin in my Natural Perfumery class as a tincture and used as a fixative where it lends a subtle smoky note.

HYDROSOL: I do not as yet know a source for the hydrosol or its use. However, I postulate that the hydrosol would make a good antibacterial mouthwash.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

HISTORICAL USES: The Mastic resin has been used for chewing since the time of Theophrastus, in relieving halitosis and as a filler for caries, and is also used in varnishes for oil pictures. It is also an ingredient in Ouzo. Ouzo is a high-proof drink whose production begins with distillation in copper stills of 96% alcohol by volume and herbs. Anise is added, sometimes with other flavorings such as Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Fennel, Mastic, and Star Anise.

“In January 1992, National Geographic mentioned that Columbus, sent by Genoese traders to cash in on the money-making crop of Mastic, visited Chios at least once”. — The Aromatherapy Book.
The tear-shaped drops of Mastic gum are associated with Saint Isadoros, whose martyred body was dragged under a Mastic tree where it wept the resinous tears called Mastic. Church use for Mastic includes ritual burning as a resinous incense, not unlike Frankincense, and as an ingredient of chrism, a holy oil used for anointing by the various Orthodox Churches. Some sources identify this as resin with the Sun, but it is more like Mercury in that it is “-clarifying, quickening, brightening, and good for concentration. Smoldered 2-1 with rosemary, it is considered an aid to study, and is a good base for various types of incense for ceremonial magick.” —Alchemy-works.com.

Ancient Egyptians employed Mastic during their embalming procedures, while Biblical scholars believe that bakha—derived from the Hebrew term for weeping (and, thus, the tear-shaped pieces of Mastic gum)—was none other than the Mastic tree.

Medicine – People in the Mediterranean region have used Mastic as a medicine for gastrointestinal ailments for several thousand years. The first-century Greek physician and botanist, Dioscorides, wrote about the medicinal properties of Mastic in his classic treatise De Materia Medica Substances,”. In my personal volume, he says “the resin when drunk is good for old cough, for the stomach, and for ointments for the face. Being chewed it causes a sweet breath and strengthens the gums. The best, & most choice is that which is clear and white, dry and sweet-smelling.”

Interesting Information: It is believed that the Sardinian warbler [a bird] is only found near fruiting shrubs of this species [Mastic].².

MASTIC EXPERIENCE – JEANNE ROSE’S TOMATO TALES

AROMATHERAPY SALONS

Mastic resin pieces are also delicious when chewed like American chewing gum. It has a mild taste that is not lost after hours of chewing and it can be chewed for hours. The problem is that Mastic takes a few times to learn how to chew it as a small ball of resin needs to be soaked in the mouth first to get to perfect mastication texture. Then you need to roll it around in the mouth once in while so that it doesn’t stick to your fillings. In 2018 at a Resin Distillation Conference in Spokane, WA., I asked several well-known gum-chewers [thankyou Monica and Kendall] if they wanted to try Mastic. “Yes, of course” they said, but in fact they were unable to learn to chew it or even try past 30 minutes. This is great gum and can be chewed for 4 hours without losing its eponymous taste and it is good for the teeth.

Abstract/Scientific Data About the Gum Resin Mastic:

Researchers at Nottingham University hospital and Barnet General Hospital have found that Chios Mastic is an effective treatment for ulcers. The findings showed that even in small doses of one gram a day for two weeks, Mastic gum could cure peptic ulcers.

Regular consumption of Mastic resin has been proven to absorb cholesterol, thus easing high blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart attacks. It is also used in the manufacture of plasters. Mastic oil also has antibacterial and antifungal properties, and as such is widely used in the preparation of ointments for skin disorders and afflictions.

In recent years, university researchers have provided the scientific evidence for the medicinal properties of Mastic resin. A 1985 study by the University of Thessaloniki and by the Meikai University discovered that Mastic can reduce bacterial plaque in the mouth by 41.5%. A 1998 study by the University of Athens found that Mastic oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties. A recent and extensive study showed that Mastic gum reduced H. pylori populations after an insoluble and sticky polymer (poly-β-myrcene) constituent of Mastic gum was removed and taken for a longer period of time. Further analysis showed the acid fraction was the most active antibacterial extract, and the most active pure compound was isomasticadienolic acid.

A balm was created from the Mastic tree resin for use by physicians in Biblical times.” — Wikipedia

Contraindications: Side effects of taking Mastic gum may include nausea, diarrhea, and constipation.

References:
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Arctander. 1960
Aromatherapy Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose, San Francisco, California, 1992
Dioscorides. The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides. Translated in 1655 by Goodyer and printed in 1933.
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Krieger Publishing. Florida. 1976
¹Langenheim, Jean H. Plant Resins • Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, Ethnobotany. Timber Press. 2003
²Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California:
³Wikipedia – Mastic
Other References are included within the body of the work.

The Jeanne Rose Aromatherapy Studies Course these blog posts as well as much more information on the many aspects of essential oils, hydrosols, absolutes and aromatic ingredients for health and skin care.

~JR~

Irritants: Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most resinous oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapists suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

My only analyses of Mastic using the Advanced Vocabulary of Odor

**See Natural Perfumery Workbook to use. 2016.**

BATH, WATER AND BATHING STUFF

Oct19

THE BATH, WATER AND BATHING STUFF

Compiled by Jeanne Rose – 2002-2018

Synopsis ~ All about bath and the brushes and scrubbing items one needs to use in a bath, for complete exfoliation, stimulation and cleansing. Essential oil and herbal recipes for bathing and making your own home aromatherapy spa.

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” ― Isak Dinesen

INTRODUCTION ~ Of all the ways that lovers of essential oils can actually use these special products and find some healthful release for their stress and pain — is in the bath. The bath with water is where we humans can go back to the source, water, which is what we are made of. We can renew ourselves with water because it re-creates what happened in the womb — by using pure waters/hydrosols/mineral waters to surround us in the bath. Baths Detoxify, Purify, Rebuild, Rejuvenate, Relax, Restore and Revive our overworked body and mind. Use a shower to cleanse but a bath to relax and heal the mind.

Use water of all types for health and the preservation of healthy skin and for treating disease. Use herbs in the bath and see for the many combinations that you can use in bathing. Use Rosemary herb and Seaweeds as they have proven to be antiaging. Occasionally go to the local hot springs or mineral springs as this type of bathing increases the flow of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, bringing improved nourishment to vital organs and tissues.

Use Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) crystals in the bathtub and the soaking has shown to raise magnesium levels in the body since both magnesium and sulfates are easily absorbed through the skin while bathing. These are needed for the formation of brain tissue, joint proteins and the proteins that line the walls of the digestive tract. They stimulate the pancreas to generate digestive enzymes and are thought to help detoxify the body of medicines and environmental contaminants.

Be spare with your use of essential oils in the water, save them for an after-bath rubdown. The EO will last longer, be kinder to the environment and also not just be flushed down the drain.

SPA – SALVE PER AQUA (HEALTH THROUGH WATER)

All creatures great and small go to SPA’s or into water to be restored. The importance of essential oils and hydrosols is not that they occur in products or product making or in the SPA, but they are used directly and are the foundations of this work, using water, herbalism and essential oil therapy to revive and restore one’s personal nature and well-being. Our/your key words for bath and bathing:

Detoxify
Purify
Rebuild
Recreate what happens in the womb via pure water/hydrosols/mineral water baths
Rejuvenate
Relax
Restore
Revive

All creatures great and small go to SPAs or into water to be restored. Find out how to go about creating the perfect environment, either in your home or as a business. Learn the tools, essential oils and creative formulas that you can make.

Epsom Salts – photo by JeanneRose

CREATING YOUR OWN AROMATHERAPY SPA

WITH a quiet moment, a few herbs and essential oils, some luscious hydrosols and simple items found in your kitchen, bath, and closet and around your home, you too can create a relaxing, reviving, personalized spa experience that is truly therapeutic.

Creativity!

Bathe your Way to Health

This booklet was written to accompany the SPA class that I gave yearly for 20 years,
I updated it regularly and it is still available at /books.html

HERBS

Calendula, Chamomile, Comfrey, Geranium, Lavender, Peppermint, Roses, Rosemary, Sage, Seaweed and Witch Hazel; anything else you can think of.

OTHER PLANT MATERIALS that are considered herbs

Oatmeal, bran, Wheat Germ, honey, egg yolk, Papaya, Mango, Avocado peels and pits, Corn meal, silk powder.

ESSENTIAL OILS & HYDROSOLS

The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations is the book to read. Try the same essential oils as the herbs that you have chosen. Add Ylang-Ylang, Grapefruit, Neroli and Lavender to the bath or as a rubdown. Use hydrosols of Lavender, Geranium, Melissa and Rosemary in your bath for skin health and well-being.

SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT

Whirlpool attachment to the tub, shower massager, heavy linen sheets torn into strips that are 2 feet wide by 6-8 feet long for cellulite compresses using hydrosols, facial steamer, NETI pot, inhalator.

Tea Ball as an Herbal Bath Infuser ~ photo JeanneRose

BATHS – See individual listings in the “SPA Book” for different baths. A simple bath is the infused herbs of any fresh ones that you have available with 10 drops complimentary essential oils. i.e. Use a Citrus peels infusion (eat the fruit first) plus citrus and Patchouli [1 drop each Grapefruit, Lemon, Orange, 3 of Neroli + 4 drops Patchouli].

Herbal Baths are great for the skin and healthy for mind and body. Add 4 oz of your choice of herbs to 2 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover and let cool enough to use. Pour directly into the bathtub through a strainer. Keep the herbs as a mulch for the garden. You can choose soothing herbs such as Rose petals, astringent herbs such as Witch Hazel, tonifying herbs such as any of the citrus peels, and healing herbs such as Comfrey root or Marshmallow root. Essential oils can also be added after the bath as a rubdown, about 5-10 drops are plenty.

DEEP SPA BATHS or HOME BATHING with Hydrosols – Hydrosols in the bath water will keep your skin young and beautiful looking. They are anti-aging. Run a deep bath. Add herbs or not, add 4 oz of any hydrosol, add milk, add anything. Soak for at least 20 minutes. Try to air dry. Then dress. Here are some hydrosols to use and what they can be used for —

Lavender Hydrosol is gentle, balancing, a toner, anti-inflammatory, cooling to the skin, hydrating and great for all skin types, especially oily and sensitive skin.

Lemon Balm Hydrosol is anti-viral and can be used for herpes or as an antifungal. Use it in the bath, the foot bath for athletes’ foot or for a child’s bath. One ounce in a child’s bath is plenty.

Rose Geranium Hydrosol is the consummate bathing hydrosol. It smells good and regenerates the skin while its herbal qualities ‘balances’ the oil glands. It is good for dry skin, men love it in the bath and it even is good for bathing dogs.

Rosemary Hydrosol is the anti-aging hydrosol. Drink it, bathe in it, use the herb, use the hydrosol, use the essential oil and use all combinations of these for a variety of herbal/aromatic anti-aging delights. If you use it to wash your hair, it makes the hair so strong that it will be difficult to color or perm.

Witch Hazel Hydrosol is astringent, has little to no odor and heals all sorts of skin problems.

HYDROSOL SPRAY/TONIC DRINKS/HYDROSOL BATH – Hydrosols: These are the natural products of specialized distillation. They contain all the natural plant-based properties and nutrients as well as the small therapeutic micro-drops of essential oil. Hydrosols are mildly acidic, about 5.5 which is the same pH as the skin. [if the pH is more than this, then you bought water and it isn’t a true hydrosol] Hydrosols can be used as facial sprays, in all your water-based products, in drinking waters as a tonic, in baths, compresses, poultices, creams, lotions, foot baths, foods, etc. Just add them to everything, one tablespoon to drinks and up to 4 ounces to the bath, although I often use more than that.

SCRUBBING CLOTH, Brushes and Bathing Tools & what they are made of

Exfoliation is the key to young- and healthy-looking skin. It allows your skin to perform important functions like absorbing nutrients and releasing toxins. When gently exfoliating, you are encouraging circulation and skin cell renewal. Use any of these natural plant fibers to exfoliate and cleanse your skin. Now take a look at all the wonderful natural items that are available.

Agave (see Sisal, see Ayate) A washcloth made of the Maguey Cactus and is the same as the Ayate which is a fiber woven cloth that comes from the Maguey (Agave (var. species names) salmiana). … It is a productive fiber has been used in the “Valle Del Mazquital” located in the central part of Mexico where more than four hundred thousand people live. Ayate has been known for its durability, natural origins and usefulness to natives but slowly is turning into an international sensation.   Maguey is used in Mexico as a resource that provides natives over 100 different products of which include clothing, food, medicine, firewood, furniture, and soap. The importance of the Maguey has prevailed through time and has become a dominant source of income for these natives. Once the Maguey is at a mature state, which can take up to ten years, the Ayate fiber then can be extracted along with other resources the Maguey is used for. The process of making Ayate is extravagant, labor-intensive and can take up to two to four days to complete. Some skin care companies’ main purpose is to represent indigenous countries by purchasing native products and distributing these products which protects native industry as well as the people.

Today, Ayate is used as all-safe mildew resistant exfoliation device for the skin, designed to last up to about a year. Currently there is a market for up to 3000 abates (one square foot) per month on the West Coast of the United States alone.

BRISTLE BRUSH or a Bamboo BRUSH (various species) – Can be a hairbrush or used in fine body, nail and bath brushes. The bristle is a stiff, thorny hair from swine in natural-bristle brushes. The wild boar (Sus scrofa), or colloquially simply called the boar, is a species of a pig in the biological family Suidae and the wild ancestor of the wild boar. It is native across much of Central Europe, the Mediterranean Region (including North Africa’s Atlas Mountains) and much of Asia as far south as Indonesia, and has been introduced elsewhere. Although common in France, the wild boar became extinct in Great Britain and Ireland by the 17th century, but wild breeding populations have recently returned in some areas, particularly the Weald, following escapes from boar farms.

Nail Brush is a wonderful addition to your bathing accoutrements. This is the one that I like to use – a bristle nail brush by Kent and made in England.

The hair of the boar is also used for the production of the toothbrush, that is, until the invention of synthetic materials in the 30s. The hair for the bristles usually comes from the neck area of the boar. While such brushes were once very popular because the bristles were soft, this was not the best material for oral hydiene as the hairs are slow to dry and usually retain bacteria. Today’s toothbrushes are made with plastic bristles.

Boar hair is used in the manufacture of boar-bristle hairbrushes, which are considered to be gentler on hair—and much more expensive—than common plastic-bristle hairbrushes. Boar bristles are easier on hair than cheapie plastic brushes and they redistribute oils throughout hair, boosting shine. Also, among quality shaving brushes, bristles are exclusively made with animal fibers, the cheaper models use boar bristles, while badger hair is used in much more expensive models of shaving brushes.

“Boar hair is used in the manufacture of paintbrushes, especially those used for oil painting. Boar bristle paintbrushes are stiff enough to spread thick paint well, and the naturally split or “flagged” tip of the untrimmed bristle helps hold more paint.”

ESTROPAJO simply means scrubbing cloth but in Mexico refers to the SEA SPONGE that is used for scrubbing. The sea sponge is harvested by cutting off the top part and leaving behind the base so that the sponge can regrow. Sea sponges, or Porifera, are colorful, simple-celled, filter feeding animals. They are not plants and they grow in every ocean in the world. They survive pollution where other sea creatures can’t. This is because they have the ability to regenerate into a new life from even the tiniest fragments of another. Baby sponges resemble plankton and after a few days of free floating, will attach themselves to a hard surface and begin to grow. They have a nice feel when used in the bath for cleaning the skin.

HEMP SCRUB CLOTH (Cannabis sativa) – Being naturally anti-bacterial and mold and mildew resistant, hemp is the perfect fiber for heavy duty kitchen and bathroom work. Use these hand knitted cloths to scrub pots, bathroom walls, floors, and outdoor furniture. Simply throw them in the wash with the rest of your laundry and hang out to dry. Instead of throwing your synthetic or other similar stinky scrub cloths in the trash, use hemp or other natural fabric. These are not sponging, they are scrubbing cloth, and they exfoliate or act as mild abrasives. When they finally wear out, put them in the compost where they will break down and add organic matter back to the soil.

Horsehair Exfoliation using a horsehair brush, pad, mitt is the Ferrari of dry brushing and exfoliation. These are all natural, hand-gathered hair, straps that are made of horsehair and aloe. they are not for the faint of heart. Wet or dry, they provide a true exfoliation! The ones that I have are white have wood handles are made in Italy, by craftsmen and for the person who is serious about exfoliation or just scratching that itch that you cannot reach. Horsehair straps are usually used dry (not in the shower) by taking the handles in each hand and gently rubbing all over the body, especially over rough skin. They can be used with a natural scent, essential oil, or other preparations such as creams and lotions. A massage with this strap will stimulate the circulation, exfoliate (-like crazy) and deeply apply any preparations or oils that you have applied and will make the skin smooth and velvety. Wash strap occasionally with mild soap and allow to dry.

Jute (Crochorus spp) – Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber from the bark that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus from the family Malvaceae. Jute is one of the cheapest natural fibers and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses.

Loofah Scrubbers

LOOFAH. The fruit of Luffa aegyptiaca may be allowed to mature and used as a bath or kitchen sponge after being processed to remove everything but the network of xylem. The luffa or loofah sponge is used like a body scrub. Both the coarse textured type and the soft textured type are called luffas or loofahs. It is used wet or dry and revitalizes skin by exfoliating and promoting blood circulation.

PALM Brush made with Palmyra spp. from the leaves and is sometimes called vegetable horsehair. Palmyra is a natural cinnamon-color fiber obtained from the leaf stalk of a palm tree native to India. Palmyra is obtainable in the stiff and medium stiff grades. Some Palm brushes are made from the fibers of the Japanese palm plant. This could be the Japanese Bamboo Plant (Sasa palmatta). This fiber is used in garage floor brushes, or fender washing brushes, deck brushes, or various scrub brushes, etc. These fibers are a bit rough on human skin and Palm brush use should be limited to other scrubbing uses.

RAMIE Boehmeria nivea) is a flowering plant in the nettle family Urticaceae, native to eastern Asia. This is an all-natural fiber from the leaves made into a washcloth or textiles. A great and gentle way to exfoliate. Ramie (It is an herbaceous perennial that is harvested and processed to yield strong fibers, also called ramie, which are used in the production of textiles, twine, upholstery, filters, and sacking. Like flax, jute, and hemp, ramie is considered a bast fiber crop, meaning that the usable portion of the plant is found in its connective tissue structures. Ramie fiber is white and lustrous and looks like silk, but it lacks stretch and elasticity. It is extremely absorbent, much more than cotton. Ramie fabric breathes well and makes comfortable clothing for warm and humid summers. Ramie is one of the strongest natural fibers and it is strong even when wet. Like linen, it will break if folded repeatedly in the same place, so avoid pressing sharp creases or folding ramie fabric. Ramie fabric does not shrink, and it is resistant to bacteria and mildew, which means it does not rot easily. The plant is widely cultivated in several Asian nations, which export ramie around the world.) http://www.wildfibres.co.uk/html/ramie.html

SILK CLOTH used for strainers or for straining herbs is made from the cocoon of the silk worm (Bombyx mori) – thus it is a protein. Since our bodies are also animal protein, the silk cloth can be used as a rub to dry the hair giving it resilience and beautiful shine. It can be used to hold herbs or Seaweed when taking a bath thus obviating the need for cooking, infusing and straining herbs and Seaweed before the bath. Just fill the silk bag with what you want and pop into the tub.

SISAL (Agave sisalana) is a variety of Mexican agave plant cultivated for its strong fiber; and used to make rope, carpets, body brushes and other items. It is used in the bath or shower to cleanse the skin and exfoliate wet loosened skin flakes. It feels really good.

Traditionally, sisal has been the leading material for agricultural twine because it has strength, durability, ability to stretch, affinity for certain dyes, and resistance to deterioration in saltwater. The importance of this traditional use is diminishing with the use of synthetic fibers. New higher-valued sisal products have been developed. Sisal is used in ropes, twines, low-cost and specialty paper, dartboards, buffing cloth, filters, mattresses, carpets, handicrafts, wire rope cores, and Macramé. In recent years sisal has been utilized as an environmentally friendly strengthening agent to replace asbestos and fiberglass in composite materials in various uses including the automobile industry. The higher-grade fiber after treatment is converted into yarns and used by the carpet industry. Other products developed from sisal fiber include spa products, cat scratching posts, lumbar support belts, rugs, slippers, cloths, and disc buffers. Sisal wall covering meets the abrasion and tearing resistance standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials and of the National Fire Protection Association. Sisal is not recommended for areas that receive wet spills or rain or snow. Sisal is used by itself in carpets or in blends with wool and acrylic for a softer hand. http://www.wigglesworthfibres.com/products/sisal/usesofsisal.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisal

Sisal is valuable forage for honeybees because of its long flowering period. It is particularly attractive to them during pollen shortage. The honey produced is however dark and has a strong and unpleasant flavor.

Strigile or strigil. In Roman time the strigile was used before bathing to clean off excess body dirt or sweat. They were often used with oil to assist in the cleaning process. Then the hot soak, then a bath, then a hot soak and then a cold wash or any combination that suits you. I use the above wooden butter spreader as a substitute for a curved metal strigil when I want to scrape my skin.

* * * * * *

Take a Bath Now! It’s healing to mind and body.

How to Take a Soaking Bath By Jeanne Rose
1.Take a quick shower with soap- to clean your skin
2.Open the taps in the tub and add the herbs-salts-goodies-essential oils
3.Run the water hot but not boiling.
4.Use 4-6 ounces of your bath salts per bath and some hydrosol and soak at least 22 minutes. This is the time it takes for the toxics to get moving and to be released into the tub and out of the body.
5.Get in. If the tub is small and your shoulders ache, lie flat on the bottom to soak your shoulders; if the tub is small and your legs ache, sit upright and thinking relaxing thoughts; if everything aches take turns soaking one part and then the other OR get a big Victorian tub.
6.Get out of tub and wrap in a blanket or towel, do not rub dry. Go to bed to get the full effects of the bath.
7.Think of your happy place, smell your favorite essential oil and sleep and dream the dreams.

Bibliography:
Experience with every kind of bath and bath tool for 50 years.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols. Frog. Ltd. 1999
Rose, Jeanne. SPA/SKIN Book. The Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies, 2006.
Rose, Jeanne. Herbal Body Book, 1975
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book • Applications & Inhalations. North Atlantic Books, 1992
Wikipedia is very helpful for all sorts of information
http://www.wigglesworthfibres.com/products/sisal/usesofsisal.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisal

My favorite source for oils, essential oils, carrier oils, hydrosols and diffusors is www.EdenBotanicals. All products are available online in any size and always samples are included.

Aromatherapy and Herbal Studies Courses are available from /courses.html

BENZOIN/STYRAX/STORAX

Sep25

BENZOIN/STYRAX/STORAX RESIN EO Profile
By Jeanne Rose ~ Sept. 2018

Synopsis ~ The balsamic gum-resins contains both resin and a water-soluble gum. The ‘tear’ has no scent and can be handled like a rock. The confusing names have to do with historical references but are clarified in the article by Jeanne Rose that gives botany, yields, history and more. Read on for differences in the two. Benzoin/Styrax/Storax

Styrax and Benzoin from 1972-2018 – photo by Jeanne Rose

Common Name/Latin Binomial: BENZOIN & STYRAX ~

Benzoin. (See also Styrax) BENZOIN is an Asian gum resin, Styrax benzoin. In its natural state, it is a ‘tear’ that is solid, has no scent, can be handled and rubbed and fondled like a small irregular rock. It is a called a resin and is extruded naturally from The Styrax Benzoin tree, Styrax tonkinensis, and other species of Styrax. In its raw state, it consists of both a gum and a resin, sometimes with a small amount of EO. It is not water-soluble, as you would think a gum is. It can be burned on smoke like any incense. It is a preservative in skin care products or an addition to essential oil blends. It can be diluted with essential oil blends or alcohol for perfumery purposes. The scent is sweet, balsamic, woody, fruity and floral – it acts as either a base note or a fixative in perfumery. Benzoin resin from Styrax is also called gum Benjamin or simply gum Benzoin and the most common Asian species is Benzoin styrax.

Tincture of benzoin is a strong and pungent solution of Benzoin resin in ethanol. “A similar preparation called Friar’s Balsam or Compound Benzoin Tincture contains, in addition, Cape aloes or Barbados aloes and Storax resin. Friar’s balsam was invented by Joshua Ward around 1760”. Friars Balsam cannot be substituted for Balsam of Peru/Tolu to my knowledge. See the comparison of chemicals later on in the paper.

This is the very confusing world of words as the words Benzoin, Storax, Styrax are used interchangeably but are actually two different resins from several different trees named Styrax and Liquidamber. This is where thousands of years of using common names will totally confuse the novice resin user and make you want to tear your hair out by the roots.

Storax is a sweet-smelling exudate (from a tree) and in fact that is what the root word from the Arabic means. The word ‘Storax’ often refers to the solid resin only while Styrax is the scent in liquid form. But Storax comes from several species of Liquidambar spp.; Turkish Storax is Liquidamber orientalis while American Storax is Liquidambar styraciflua is from the southeastern USA, Mexico and Guatemala, and is similar to L. orientalis. (See also Styrax)

Styrax (STYRAX & STORAX) ~ (See also Benzoin) Storax is the word usually used for Liquidambar orientalis from Asia & Styrax for Liquidambar styraciflua from Central America while Benzoin is a balsamic resin from Styrax tonkinensis from Siam and Sumatra. [yes, I know this is totally confusing]

>This is an example of 3 ancient trees producing a resin but from different terroir and having similar genus names but specific species names. The name’s the same but the plants are not. Always know your plants by their correct Latin binomial and even terroir<.>

Benzoin/Styrax/Storax Naming ~ Years ago, I wrote to Will Lapaz, the original owner of Eden Botanicals, in regards to the different looking Styrax/Benzoin that he had and I had and he responded as follows, “Styrax – which I prefer to call Liquidambar to keep it from being confused with Benzoin (even though it is still mostly known as Styrax in the industry) – is not very common and actually hard to find. Styrax we have is from L. styraciflua from Honduras and not the Levant Styrax (L. orientalis). This is one possible difference, it is worth noting that the two species do have significantly different chemical compositions. … It is a very viscous gum resin with an aroma that nearly matches airplane glue.” —Will Lapaz. Will goes on to say “I wanted to also mention (similar to Barbara’s note to you), that Herbs and Things was the very first herb book I ever bought and read back in the 70s. So, I guess that in some ways that book (and you by extension) helped to start me on a long study of medicinal plants, herbs and the quest for the perfect essence.”

Some of Jeanne Rose personal 50-year collection of Storax/Styrax

*More Common Name Information
This is an example of 3 ancient trees producing a resin but from different terroir and having similar genus names but specific species names. Always know your plants by their correct Latin binomial. Common names are common and similar to calling all brown-haired persons by the misnomer ‘Hey”.

Benzoin is also called Storax, not to be confused with the balsam of the same name obtained from another family. Although I have to admit it is most confusing and this is why you need to KNOW the Latin name and not just the common name.

Family name of the two main genus called

Benzoin/Styrax/Storax

Family Hamamelidaceae include Liquidamber species of Turkish or American Storax and sometimes it is called Styrax

Family Styracaceae include Styrax species of Benzoin and Tonkin ‘Styrax’ resin

red Siam gum benzoin

COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN

Family Styracaceae – many names to confuse you.
Benzoin – Styrax benzoin or the Asian gum resin, the most common Asian species and commonly from Sumatra. Styrax benzoin is also from more humid Asian species, reported from India, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Java, Sumatra, and Malaysia

Styrax Benzoin tree – Styrax tonkinensis – gum resin from Thailand (Siam) and Sumatra.

Benzoin is also called ‘Storax’ and not to be confused with the balsam of the Storax obtained from the Liquidamber trees of the Hamamelidaceae family. Please refer to the paragraph above called *More Common Name Information.

Family Hamamelidaceae

Storax – Liquidamber spp). is a common name that often refers to the powder or resin used in potpourri.
Storax, Turkish – Liquidamber orientalis from Asia Minor, is called Levant Styrax or Turkish sweetgum.
Storax, American – Liquidamber styraciflua from Central America is also called Styrax.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location ~ Benzoin (Styrax benzoin) originates in Sumatra and is an alcohol extracted dilution of 70% resin and 30% ethanol.

Styrax (Liquidamber styraciflua) is solvent-extracted using ethanol and originates in Honduras.

Endangered or Not ~ “worries that the Liquidambar orientalis forest in the Eastern Mediterranean (i.e. the private & State-owned forest centered in S.E. Anatolia in Turkey) is now greatly reduced through wood-felling and resin extraction, to the extent that Topal et al. 2008 say the species is facing extinction). Cropwatch can therefore no longer support the use of commodities from Liquidamber orientalis in perfumery.” —Cropwatch
Liquidamber (Storax) is facing extinction.
Benzoin is considered critically endangered by FloraFaunaWeb^4.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PLANT HABITAT AND GROWTH, EXTRACTION ~

PORTION OF PLANT USED IN DISTILLATION, HOW DISTILLED, EXTRACTION METHODS AND YIELD ~
Liquidamber of the Hamamelidaceae family is a monoecious deciduous tree; and a cultivated ornamental with spectacular autumnal color. The oriental sweet gum L. orientalis is native to Asia Minor and forms large forests. The tree grows to a height of 20-40 feet, and some cases higher. The leaves are shiny bright green above and pale below. Styrax also called Storax, Liquidamber orientalis, the Levant Styrax is a natural balsam formed in the sapwood and bark tissue. The tree grows wild, the bark removed, and the sapwood is injured at intervals of several days, particularly in August and September but not in the rainy season.³ “The Styrax forms and is collected in cans below the wound and additionally the bark can be boiled to yield more of the precious substance. Water will collect at the bottom of the cans and needs to be removed.”¹

The American Styrax tree, Liquidamber styraciflua has two varieties with either 3-lobed leaves or 5-7-lobed leaves. The tree grows to 100 feet and the wood is hard, close-grained and reddish brown in color. “The balsam has been long used by (native Americans); after the conquest by Cortes, it was exported to Spain in large quantities for use both as perfume and as a vulnerary.”³(A vulnerary prevents tissue degeneration and arrests bleeding in wounds.) Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala produce the American Storax from L. styraciflua. “Here the balsam is a pathological product which exudes from the tree and accumulates in ‘pockets’ in older trees. Thus, incisions in the bark is not necessary.” — Steffen Arctander¹

Liquidamber yield: Very dependent on the source, process, and certainly quantity of water in the original product.
American Styrax, L. styraciflua, will yield from 15-20% from steam distillation of the resin.

***Liquidamber styraciflua –*USA**

“Benzoin trees are large and irregularly shaped. In addition, they are perennial, living in mixed or disturbed forests, flowers are insect-pollinated, it is propagated by seed, the foliage is spirally arranged with stalked leaves. Styrax benzoin trees, that have been cultivated and left to mature for at least six years are harvested for this resin. First, triangular cuts are made into the bark and this causes the resin flowing within to pool out of these incisions and harden very quickly upon coming into contact with the air. The quick drying factor, combined with the gravitational force of flow, often results in a teardrop-shaped knob of hard resin left dangling from the tree. Depending on the species of tree, the resin collected ranges in color from pale yellow to dark amber. Once tapped, most trees will continue to yield a flow of resin for another three years.” — I wish I could find the original source of this paragraph. The latest place I saw it is at https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-benzoin.htm

Benzoin yield: Very dependent on the source and process by which obtained. And the product is often only the alcohol-soluble resin.

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment ~
Benzoin is considered an irritant. The scent is sweet, balsamic, woody, fruity and floral.
Styrax is an intense odor of pungent herb, hot tropical fruity subsidiary note with a back note that is animalistic and slightly civet-like. The scent is described by Guenther as a peculiar characteristic odor and a sharp, spicy taste. The eponymous scent is also resultant of the quantity of styrene which may boil off or change due to the age of the product.

“Des Esseintes proceeded to turn about and warm between his hands a ball of Styrax, and a very curious odour filled the room, a smell at once repugnant and exquisite, blending the delicious scent of the jonquil with the filthy stench of gutta-percha and coal-tar. …” Against the Grain by J. K. Huysmans

Benzoin and Styrax, Fortunately, I have enough supply of these odors from original sources to always be able to supply my perfumery with these powerful pure scents that were once easily available and are no longer.

Benzoin resin from Sumatra, alcohol extract courtesy of Eden Botanicals

The right nostril processes navigational related odors. And people favor the right nostril when detecting and evaluating the intensity of odors, hinting at a broader olfactory asymmetry. So, if you are lost and wish to get home or wish to know the intensity of a scent, sniff the air with the right side. Left nostril smells the scent and right-side nostril smells the intensity.

Smell left for scent, smell right for intensity and then waft to get the entire scent experience.

Key Use of Benzoin/Styrax/Storax ~ Perfumery. Styrax tonkinensis and Styrax benzoin from Thailand and Sumatra produces Benzoin for perfumery. Liquidamber spp. best use is as an odor fixative in perfumery.

Safety Precautions about Benzoin ~ The cruder the Benzoin the more potential to cause sensitization. “For those that do not know, sensitization is not just an irritation of the skin. It is an immune system response and can be temporary but can be with you for Life. Those that become cosmetic ingredient sensitized can have the most appallingly disfiguring skin conditions.” — Martin Watt

Safety Precautions about Storax (Liquidamber)~ Styrax also is apparently to be potentially abandoned by IFRA (International Fragrance Association) and is another aroma ingredient with an important place in the art of perfumery, being derived from a number of Liquidambar spp. including Liquidambar styraciflua L.; L. orientalis var. orientalis; L. orientalis var. integriloba & L. formosana.

GENERAL PROPERTIES

Properties and Uses ~ The properties are antiseptic and antibacterial. They are used for medicinal conditions and purposes. A tincture of Benzoin can be made from steeping the resin in an alcohol base and when administered as an inhalant, the tincture is said to be an effective natural cold remedy, as well as a treatment for bronchitis and other respiratory disorders.

In Mabberley’s Plant Book Benzoin is called styrax and properties are listed as above as well as for flavoring cigarettes and in ceremony. Some are cultivated ornamentals, S. officinalis a distinct variety in California has seeds used in beads. (this is interesting to me as I have one of these trees in my yard and have never seen it produce seeds).

“Liquidamber, is a valuable timber and aromatic balsam tree used in medicine and scent. L. orientalis is the source of the Levant Storax, and probably the balm (of Gilead) of the Bible”.²

Storax or Liquidamber spp. Is used as flavors, fragrances, and in pharmaceuticals called Friars Balsam as it has many uses. [Friars Balsam is a combination of Benzoin, Storax and Aloes]
American Storax resin (Liquidambar styraciflua) has also been chewed like gum to freshen breath and clean teeth.

**Symbols from The Aromatherapy Book showing that Benzoin/Styrax
can be a skin irritant and to dilute before use.**

Applications/ Skincare ~ When applied topically, the tincture of Benzoin is considered an excellent home remedy for a variety of skin disorders, including acne, psoriasis, eczema, and rashes. It was also used as an antiseptic to treat cuts, wounds, blisters, and even cold sores and ulcerations of the mouth and gums. In tropical America, Styrax tessmamanii crushed leaves are used against fungal infections of the feet. I have also read that application of tincture of Benzoin is used by the military in blister care — to drain a blister and attach the skin back to the body part and that it is called a ‘hot shot’ as it burns when applied.

Diffuse/Diffusion ~ Because the oils of Benzoin and Styrax are resinous they are not suitable for diffusion.

Emotional/Energetic Uses (AP or IN) ~ Jeanne Rose favorite use for Storax EO is simply by inhalation. This rich, resinous, sharp sweet scent is a reminder of my days in the laboratory at San Jose State University — my happy days there. For some it smells unpleasant with first smell but once it sits in your nose for a bit, the scent loses some of its sharpness and becomes rich and full.

In North Africa women burn Benzoin and Storax in broken pottery to access the divinity and for mystical purposes.

Benzoin AE & Styrax SE courtesy Eden Botanicals

Herbalism ~ In herbalism the compound tincture of Benzoin is already available in stores as it is difficult for a regular person to make it from the tears. Or, for perfumery the solvent-extracted absolute can be used diluted with alcohol. I use a 50•50 mix for perfumery. That means that I dilute the absolute with an equal amount of 95% neutral grape spirits. One can of course dilute it further for a less syrupy, less-viscous material that can be used in lotions or to preserve products (see Contraindications). A dilution of 30% absolute + 70% of the 95% alcohol will prolong a product and if this is about 10% of the total product then it acts as a preservative.

[I have mentioned Benzoin in various aspects in all of my books and assume that you know that it is a substance that leaks from a tree, solidifies and is sold as resin, is then treated and used in various ways. Benzoin also has been discussed many times — look at my books].

Burning Benzoin or Styrax Resin

Blends Best with ~ These two oils, Benzoin and Styrax blend with anything in the right proportion, especially spices like pepper, Clove and Nutmeg and Coriander and conifers like Cypress, Fir and especially with the citrus scents like Grapefruit and Litsea, herbal and woody odors like Atlas cedar and Tobacco and almost any rich floral odor such as Neroli, Osmanthus, Rose, Tuberose and Ylang-Ylang. Styrax is especially useful as a powerful bridge note in any Chypre formula (Labdanum and Oakmoss base) but the perfume needs to be aged before you decide whether you like the odor or not.

BLENDING with formula ~ I take my resin, either Benzoin or Liquidamber and dissolve it in neutral grape spirits before I use it in perfumery. Both are powerful fixative odor when used in perfumery, but I prefer Liquidamber as a fixative and Benzoin in Meditation blends.

A FLORAL CHYPRE PERFUME
Perfume with Styrax

Styrax can be hard to blend in a perfume because it takes TIME to integrate, sometimes as long as three months. So, if you make this perfume, make each note separately, then age for 2 weeks, then mix together as you wish, age again for 2 weeks, and lastly add the Styrax as a Bridge note. See the blog post for more information. https://jeanne-blog.com/gourmet-perfumery/

Styrax resin diluted 50•50 … Styrax (Liquidamber styraciflua or orientalis) is an aromatic balsam formed and exuded by the Storax tree when the sapwood is injured. The American Storax is preferred over the Asian or Levant type. See p. 108 of Herbs & Things. Take a small quantity of Styrax and dilute equally with neutral grape spirits. It will now be more fluid and easier to work with.

Benzoin/Labdanum Base Scent or Accord

Dilute each of your Benzoin and Labdanum 50•50 with neutral grape spirits.
Let the above age and meld for a week.
Take 12 drops of Benzoin (50•50) and 3-4 drops of (50•50) Labdanum and mix together. Age it for 1-week.

After it ages, you can add equal amount of grape spirits to make a 25% pure scent base to be used as a fixative or part of the base note.

HYDROSOL ~ I have not as yet seen or used any product that was called Benzoin/Storax or styrax hydrosol.
PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

STYRAX for Mounting Laboratory Slides.

Styrax was introduced as a mounting medium in 1883. Originally Styrax was used in the laboratory to mount microscopic animals on slides. They were fixed with alcohol or acetic acid and mounted in Styrax. Styrax has been used to mount all microscopic creatures onto glass slides and fix them so that they do not deteriorate. “Mount in Styrax. Unlike Euparal, this has a refractive index which is markedly different from that of siliceous diatom frustules and makes them stand out very clearly. At stage (4) single specimens can be selected and mounted individually if required.” — Techniques for the rapid preparation of permanent slides of microscopic algae by P.E. Brandham

Liquidamber Styrax ~ courtesy of Eden Botanicals

STYRAX ~ A TOMATO TALE

In the late ‘50s when I was at University as a Zoology major, I was keeper of the animal room (a euphemism I will explain at some later time) and I also used to collect my own invertebrate specimens from the sea near Santa Cruz, come home and then mount them onto slides. The best place to do this was in the basement of the University. There was a hot furnace for the glass-blowing studio and a very large cage of cockroaches across the room so that the bugs could enjoy the warmth. The furnace was very hot and warmed the entire basement, and the cockroaches were both amazingly smelly as well as noisy as they hissed constantly. I would first blow my own glass collecting tubes that would fit the tiny invertebrate creatures I had collected and then remove the cellular water by certain preservation techniques and then mount them onto glass slides – it was a Special Project. These small bits of animalia were placed on the slide and then fixed with Styrax and a cover slip placed atop. This scent will always remind me of my days in a science lab.

“The small creatures are fixed in 1:3 acetic alcohol, the coverslip immersed rapidly. Care should be taken not to overcrowd the cells and then they are mounted in Styrax. Owing to its content of high boiling constituents, Styrax acts as a most efficient odor fixative.” The oil is still used to fix slides and also used in all kinds of perfume compounds, particularly those of oriental character.

This is one of my most favorite evocative odors, when I smell the strong spicy, herbaceous and oily, aldehydic odor I am wafted directly back to the science lab at San Jose State University in 1957. For me, it is a relaxing luscious scent when used in modest amounts in a perfume, especially those of the Chypre sort. Here is one of my favorite early potpourri scents and bases since 1969.

Use this potpourri in closets or drawers to scent your belongings.

“Chypre: An important perfume in Roman times manufactured in Cyprus and made of Storax, Labdanum and Calamus, giving it a heady, oriental aroma. The style of perfume continued to be manufactured in Italy into the Middle Ages under a variety of formulas, retaining the name ‘Chypre’, and was also produced in France under the name of ‘Cyprus Powder’ with Oakmoss as a base. In 17th and 18th century-France there was a fashion for small models of birds, known as ‘Oiselets de Chypre’, molded out of Chypre perfume paste (one recipe required Benzoin (Benjamin), cloves, cinnamon, calamus and gum Tragacanth as ingredients) and contained in ornate hanging cages. —”The Perfume Handbook” by Nigel Groom:

BENZOIN Limerick
Benzoin is not very pretty
But it is a good smell for those in the city
It is brown
You put it down.
And it smells like vanilla, that’s the pity. —jeannerose2018

Benzoin ~ A Tomato Tale

From 1961 to 1969 I had this great Dane dog named George. He was a blue Dane and came from Kalmar Kennel in Georgia. He was kind, faithful and traveled with me everywhere. In those days, I had a 1956 white Thunderbird convertible. He was quite a sight in that car riding in the front seat. He was my first aromatherapy dog. George like all Great Danes lie about on their doggy elbows a lot and these elbows get all calloused and wrinkled, the hairs can get ingrown and the flesh sometimes really sore and irritated and sometime soft and mushy. If the callus breaks open, the dog’s skin is compromised and might get infected. For this dog, I obtained tincture of Benzoin (gum Benzoin liquified with alcohol) and would apply it to his elbows. This toughens the skin. The Benzoin would be applied in tincture form and when the alcohol vaporized, the Benzoin which is a resin would form a solid film over the callus and protect the skin. This would act both as a protectant as well as an antibacterial. This worked really well for him and I continued to use Tincture of Benzoin for this purpose when I moved back to San Francisco and Big Sur in 1963 and until he was gone.

A recipe for Dog Elbow Cream by Jeanne Rose

Big dogs lie on their elbows and these can develop blisters and sores. To soothe this, you can make a soothing cream for the elbow. Make an application with 90% Olive Oil, 9% Calophyllum and 1% tincture of Benzoin.

To enhance the healing effects, take Olive oil and infuse or macerate for three days with the three important “C” herbs of herbalism (Chamomile flowers, Calendula flowers, Comfrey root or leaf), press out the oil and remove the herbs to your compost. To the infused oil add 9% Calophyllum oil and 1% of tincture of Benzoin and then solidify with Beeswax. [salves are easy to make, and you will find exact recipes in my books and Herbal Studies Course). This will soothe your dog’s elbow skin, moisturize and condition it.

Historical Uses ~ Storax has been mentioned in ancient writings by many authors including Theophrastus, Aristotle and Herodotus. They were some of the first ones to mention the Storax tree and its balsam. In Greek, Styraciflua refers to “styrax or styrakos” which was the ancient name for a tree that produced a fragrant fumy resin that was called Storax by both Pliny and Vergilius. It means a point, spike, or maybe the spike at the lower end of the shaft of a spear.

My copy of Plinie’s Natural History – 1601

Pliny in his Natural History (Chapter XVIII. Paragraph C, page 371) notes the use of Storax as a perfume, saying, “Out of Syria they bring backe Storax, with the acrimonie & hot smell whereof, being burnt upon their herths, they put by and drive away the loathfomneffe of their owne odors, wherewith they are cloyed: for the Arabians ufe no other fuell at all for their fires, but fweetwood”…Ciris mentions Storax as a fragrant hair dye. Dioscorides (De Materia Medica) reports its use as incense, similar to frankincense, having expectorant and soothing properties.

Interesting Information ~ The Storax of the ancients was probably extracted from a different tree, seemingly from the Liquidambar orientalis which grows wild in northern Syria and may even have been grown in Israel; from it is extracted an aromatic sap with healing qualities called Storax liquidis. This may possibly be the biblical balm, though other sources conclude that the biblical balm is Opobalsamum.

Chemical Components ~ Purified Storax contains circa 33 to 50% storesin, an alcoholic resin, both free and as cinnamic esters. Contains 5 to 15% cinnamic acid, 5 to 15% cinnamyl cinnamate, circa 10% phenylpropyl cinnamate; small amounts of ethyl cinnamate, benzyl cinnamate, and styrene, some may contain traces of vanillin. Some sources report a resin containing triterpenic acids (oleanolic and 3-epioleanolic acids). —Wikipedia

Styrax has free cinnamic acid and thus IFRA requirements to produce a skin-neutral product devoid of free cinnamic acid, have resulted in main ingredients being chemically treated that are not as pleasant in scent as they once were. In my opinion, if the distinctive scent is gone then it is not Storax and it need not be used in the perfumery.

Physicochemical Properties: Oil of Styrax, Liquidamber, of family Hamamelidaceae has a lovely peculiar odor. The properties vary with the method of distillation used.

Solubility – soluble in ½ vol. of 80% alcohol, opalescent in 10 vol. of 80% alcohol. Some oils with a high percentage of esters is less soluble.

Specific Gravity – 0.89 to 1.06

THIS IS A VERY ROUGH CHART OF THE CHEMICALS IN THESE COMPOUNDS
If you can improve on it, please let me know.

Abstract/Scientific Data: this is an interesting collection of notes regarding Benzoin.
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/benzoin#section=Top

Contraindications: Storax resin is “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS), but at low levels, for example, circa 15 ppm in candy and 25 ppm in baked goods.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions in General ~ Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most oils are not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapist suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

> USE THESE RESINS/OILS FOR YOUR HEALTH AND WELLBEING.

Use them for physical health ~
Use them moderately and occasionally to balance and heal emotional trauma ~
Use them less frequently to ground yourself and to find awareness of your spiritual center ~
Use the whole plant resin first as an incense ~
and the essential oil/resinoid as a second choice ~
~ be a Conscious consumer, ecologically thoughtful ~

Alchemical symbol for healing

Sustainability: These items may not be sustainable in the amounts that are being used. My suggestion is to use only the actual resin as it was once meant to be, as incense, in small moderate amounts as needed and not use the essential oil at all.

References:
¹Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. 1960.
²Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
³Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. 1952
⁴https://florafaunaweb.nparks.gov.sg/Special-Pages/plant-detail.aspx?id=4752
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose. 2017 edition. San Francisco, California
https://www.edenbotanicals.com/liquidambar-styrax.html
Jaeger, Edmund C. A Source-book of Biological Names and Terms. 1955.
Plinie’s. Natural History. My translation and book dated 1601.
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. North Atlantic Books. 2000:

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

Please leave your comments and questions here at the blog and not at Jeanne Rose FB page or website. /courses.html

Balsam of Peru/Tolu

Aug31

BALSAM OF TOLU & BALSAM OF PERU

Essential Oil, HERB, Hydrosol Profile

By Jeanne Rose ~ /courses.html

Synopsis ~ Balsam of Tolu/Peru is a balsamic oleoresin contains both resin and essential oil and is now an invasive tree in new areas. The resin has a warm, woody, vanilla-type odor and has many therapeutic uses for skin care as well as a wonderful addition as a fixative in perfumery. Read on for the differences in the two.

Essential Oil & Absolute Courtesy of EdenBotanicals

Common Name/Latin Binomial ~ Balsam of Peru/Tolu are derived from a single species that have two different physiologic forms or formae. “The generic name Myroxylon derives from the Greek myron meaning sweet oil or perfume and xylon meaning wood, alluding to the natural, sweet-smelling, viscous resin that is obtained from the trunk of the tree and known commonly as balsam.”⁵This is a ‘form’ difference in the two not a chemotype difference.

Family Name ~ Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family of flowering plants.

Balsam Peru is Myroxylon balsamum for. pereirae (syn. Is M. pereirae) comes mainly from the Pacific side of southern Mexico but also through Central America.

Balsam Tolu is Myroxylon balsamum for. balsamum (syn. Is M. toluifera) comes from Columbia and the old varietal name is named after small town.

Note: In botanical nomenclature, a form (forma, plural formae) is one of the “secondary” taxonomic ranks, below that of variety, and describes the physiologic look of a species that is different from the same species elsewhere. Some plants, although identical taxonomically may have slightly different forms or ‘looks’. If nature is responsible for the different look it is ‘forma’, if man breeds the difference or for that look it is a ‘cv or variety’. These also may have different chemistry as is the case with these two balsams or the two forms of Frankincense called Boswellia sacra/carterii.

Other Common Name/Naming Information and Countries of Origins ~

What are Balsams? Balsam is from Latin balsamum meaning “gum of the balsam tree.” They are called balsams, but that name also includes other types of resins and that can lead to confusion.

Balsam is an aromatic resinous substance, such as balm, exuded by various trees and shrubs and used as a base for certain fragrances and medical and cosmetic preparations. Balsams are less fluid than oleoresins, they are “relatively soft and initially malleable resin, generally fragrant; sometimes restricted to phenolic resins of this kind.¹” This resinous sap forms on certain trees. Balsams in some definitions also have to include benzoic acid or cinnamic acid.

Balsam of Peru/Tolu

Balsam Peru ~ EO Myroxylon balsamum or M. balsamum var. pereirae is the same as Balsam of Tolu but a different physiological forma (and from a different area). It is native to Central (El Salvador) and South America. See the Botany section from your textbook, 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols. This is a balsamic oleoresin, containing both resin and essential oil that literally has to be beaten out of the bark and collected. It has a warm, woody, vanilla-type odor and has many therapeutic uses for skin care as well as a wonderful addition as a fixative in perfumery.

Balsam of Peru Limerick

I love my Balsam of Peru
It goes well in scrub with bamboo
It is sticky and sweet
And can’t be used neat
But with heat it is no longer like glue—jeannerose2012

Balsam Tolu EO – EO Myroxylon balsamum or M. balsamum var. toluiferum is the same as Balsam of Peru but different physiological forma (and from a different area). It is native to South America (Columbia) and only slightly different than Balsam of Peru in that the branches begin at 45 feet above-ground and the balsam comes naturally from the tree after an incision and is not beaten out. The scent is the same, balsamic, vanilla-type, warm, and smoky. The balsam can be steam-distilled, with a high ester count, used as anticatarrhal, expectorant, indicated for chronic respiratory conditions and used commercially as an expectorant in cough formulas or in soap. See page 110 of Herbs & Things or page 69 The Aromatherapy Book.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location ~ Balsam of Peru is wild-grown and harvested in El Salvador.

Endangered or Invasive ~ Myroxylon balsamum is a large tree of tropical America, known internationally and introduced widely as a source of resin (Peru and Tolu balsams) for use in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. It is also a valuable timber tree. However, it is reported as highly invasive in inland and montane Sri Lanka, where it forms dense stands shading out native species, which indicates a risk of it also becoming invasive in some of the many countries and islands where it has naturalized.⁵

General description of Plant habitat and growth of Balsam of Peru/Tolu ~ “M. balsamum is a large tree up to 40-45 m tall, with a round crown and dense foliage. The main trunk is up to 1 m in diameter, mostly straight, with slim, ascending branches. The outer bark is smooth, greyish brown and covered with many lenticels (one of many raised pores in the stem of a woody plant that allows gas exchange between the atmosphere and the internal tissues); the inner bark is yellowish, with a pungent, some say unpleasant smell. Leaves are alternate or irregular, petiolate.”⁵This woody tree is broadleaved, a perennial, and propagated by seed.

Balsam of Peru/Tolu …Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods and yields ~

Balsam of Peru is sticky and sweet. These large trees can be found from Guatemala to Nicaragua, but the conditions needed for producing Peru Balsam exist only in a small region of El Salvador, in the highlands an hour’s drive west of the capital San Salvador. Peru is harvested in successive phases, January to May in the dry season and May to September in the rainy season. The bark is burned, and these specific spots are covered with pieces of cloth that absorb the exudate. The cloth is then pressed, and the balsam is purified by boiling. Impurities are removed through specific purification. The trees suffer no permanent damage from this process and can continue to yield balsam for more than 100 years. A company called Biolandes has established a secure and sustainable supply at the source, importing purified balsam to France where it is processed to produce Peru absolute. “Removing the insoluble portions by filtration and then removing the solvent yield resinoid which varies between 80-86%”⁸.

Yield ~ Peru production amounts to about 80 tons per year. The yield in commercial production ranges from 43-55% essential oil from the balsam.

Balsam of Tolu ‘resinoid’ “is obtained by extraction of the raw tolu balsam. It is a brown crystalline mass with a persistent, sweet, balsamic odor, somewhat reminiscent of Hyacinth. It is used as a fixative in perfumes.^7.” The balsam forms in the trunk tissues as a result of injuries.⁸Consistency depends upon age and temperature. It is soluble in high-proof alcohol. Collection of balsam continues year-around.

Yield ~ Steam distillation of Tolu balsam yields from 1.5-7% volatile oil.⁸

Squeezing out the Balsam of Peru

Organoleptic Characteristics:

Characteristics	*1972 Balsam of Peru*	Balsam of Peru resin	Balsam of Peru EO	Balsam of Tolu resin
Color:	Brown	brown	Yellow to golden	brown
Clarity:	opaque	opaque	clear	opaque
Viscosity:	Viscous	Very viscous	Somewhat viscous	Very viscous
Taste:	—	—	—	—
Intensity of Odor: 1-10 with 1= lowest	3	2	2	3

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment of Balsam of Peru/Tolu ~ Odors have intensity and tenacity. Intensity is how strong the odor is, and tenacity is how long it lasts in your nose or in a blend or perfume. Regarding the “Vocabulary of Odor” this is fully explained in chapter 3 of my book, 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols.

Balsam of Peru from 1972 was woody, vegetative, balsamic and floral. Balsam of Peru from 1980 was balsamic, floral and woody. Balsam of Peru essential oil balsamic, softly floral and a back note of wood.

Balsam of Tolu resin was a soft balsamic, woody, floral note that becomes more intense when it is diluted 50•50 with 95% neutral grape spirits. At this 1•1 dilution rate it will eventually separate. It stays in solution with further dilution to reduce the resin to 25% of the total.

CHEMICAL COMPONENTS

Physiochemical Properties: Peru Balsam is a viscous, dark brown, transparent liquid which does not harden on exposure to the air. It has a pleasant sweet lasting odor which is slightly reminiscent of Vanilla. It is a complex mixture of 25-30% resin and 60-65% essential oil.⁸

Solubility ~ It is soluble in 95% alcohol.

Comparison of Main Components ~ Balsam of Peru and Balsam of Tolu are very different in their chemistry.

According to Tony Burfield in 2008, Balsam of Peru contains benzyl cinnamate up to 40%, benzyl benzoate up to 30% and cinnamyl cinnamate up to 0.5%. Other constituents include vanillin up to 1%, and the floral scented sesquiterpene alcohol nerolidol up to 7%), this being formerly termed ‘peruviol’.

Balsam of Tolu contains cinnamein (benzyl cinnamate or a mixture of this ester with other esters), cinnamic acid, and resin, and can resinify more easily than Balsam of Peru. The main constituents of tolu balsam are the benzyl- and cinnamyl esters of benzoic acid and cinnamic acid. They are solid at room temperature.

•

GENERAL PROPERTIES of Balsam of Peru/Tolu

These two balsams, visually identical but differently named because of location, are antiseptic and antitussive.

Properties and Uses ~ Peru Balsam with its sweet vanilla-like scent and is used in the manufacture of perfumes and in many products. Peru balsam has uses in medicine to calm coughs, in the treatment of dry socket in dentistry, in suppositories for hemorrhoids. The plants have been reported to inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis as well as the common ulcer-causing bacteria. It has been used as Helicobacter pylori in test-tube studies, so it is used topically as a treatment of wounds and ulcers, as an antiseptic and used as an anal muscle relaxant. Peru Balsam can be found in diaper rash ointments, hair tonics, antidandruff preparations, and feminine hygiene sprays and as a natural fragrance in soaps, detergents, creams, lotions, and perfumes.

Application/Skincare ~ Balsam of Peru has been used as a disinfectant for eczema or pruritis; to relieve the itch of scabies and to kill the eggs; as a ringworm application and as a rub to toughen nipples prior to nursing (prior to birth, not after birth). It is used in skin cleaning soaps — medicinal soaps for chapped hands and feet. Dissolved in alcohol it is a fragrant and potent fixative in perfume and potpourri.³

Balsam of Tolu is used much the same as Balsam of Peru with a similar vanilla-scent that is also somewhat cinnamon. It is used as a fixative in perfumery and potpourris and many pharmaceutical preparations and soap making.

Diffuse/Diffusion ~ I suggest that you do not try to diffuse this product.

Emotional/Energetic Uses ~ Balsam of Peru/Tolu are used energetically and emotionally in love spells and in ceremony and in blessings.

Jeanne Rose recipe for Depression or Sadness

Emotion: Depression – Mix together in whatever quantities you choose, essential oil of Basil and Jasmine and add an equal amount of Balsam of Tolu and Fir absolute. Mix together completely and use as an inhaler whenever necessary.

Emotion: Sadness – When you think that “Life is difficult, I am not smart, nobody loves me” mix together 4 parts or 40 drops of Benzoin or Balsam of Peru or Tolu (dissolved first in alcohol 1:2), 3 parts or 30 drops of Rosewood, 2 parts or 20 drops of Spikenard and 1 part or 10 drops of Ylang -Ylang Extra. Mix these together and place in an inhaler bottle. Label the bottle and inhale as necessary.

Key Use ~ The distillate and the diluted resin balsam of either is very useful in perfumery. Perfumery Fixative and commercially in pharmaceuticals.

Blends Best with ~ Atlas Cedar, Cardamom, Cassia, Cinnamon, citrus scents, Frankincense, leather scents, Myrrh, Nutmeg, Opopanax, Patchouli, all resins, Rose, smoky odors, Tobacco, Vanilla, and Vetivert and more.

BLENDING with formula

Transcendental Sassy Pants from Perfumery – 2010
Ylang Ylang – type not listed – 10 drops
Cinnamon – type not listed – 12 drops
Balsam of Tolu – 20 drops
Sandalwood – type not listed – 10

This had a wonderful odor and a great name; however, the student did not list any of the qualifying details that would allow anyone else to be able create her particular scent. But these ingredients could be mixed together using Ylang Extra, Hawaiian Sandalwood and you would have a beautiful odor.

HYDROSOL ~ I have never seen or used anything called Peru/Tolu hydrosol.

Historical Uses and Interesting Information for Balsam of Peru/Tolu ~ The words Balsam of Peru is misnamed. During the Spanish domination of Central and parts of South America the balsam was collected in Central America and shipped to either Callao or Lima in Peru and was thus name “Balsam of Peru”. It was exported to Europe and documented early in the 17^th century. Today it is extracted under a handicraft process and is mainly exported from El Salvador. These two balsams obtained from Myroxylon trees are produced in different ways as detailed above.

Tolu Balsam is considered toponymy and not a misnomer. A toponymy is a study of place names, their origins and meanings. Tolu balsam is actually obtained from the latex of a tree and was originally described by Linnaeus from a sample from a town called Tolu, which at the time was located in the province of Cartagena.

Jeanne Rose Tomato Tales ~ Balsam of Peru

I have been interested in collecting these two balsams since I first knew them. I knew that Balsam of Peru was often considered an allergen or a problem for sensitive skin. But I never seemed to have any ill effects from its use. “It has been used as an expectorant, …. And externally on sores, scabies, and ringworm”.⁶

Back in my rock and roll days of 1965-1970, I once took a trip to Mexico with the father of my child. Our car broke down, we abandoned it and we completed our homeward journey on an ancient Mexican bus with torn upholstery and raggedy curtains. The bus was loaded with children and even pets. An ancient old lady was sitting behind us and spent that tedious bus ride smiling at and entertaining my child who was two at the time. It was a long bus trip from wherever we had started. Towards the end of the trip I began to itch, really itch and starting scratching at the webs between my fingers and the skin on the inside of my elbows. It began to be a torture. At the border, we were dropped off, walked across, were picked up by friends and made our way home to Big Sur and my cabin in Palo Colorado cabin where my big old Great Dane dog, George, was awaiting me.

The relentless itching continued, and I finally applied some Balsam of Peru that I had. This helped with the itching. I knew it was used for all sorts of skin parasites. Remember this was Big Sur 1966 and people were passing all sorts of whatever from one-person-to-another. My itching was temporarily soothed but my other two travel companions were scratching like crazy. I looked at my inner elbow with a magnifying glass and was absolutely sure I could see a microscopic spider wavng its legs about. So, we all went to the doctor, were diagnosed with scabies, bought the killer medicine, came home, showered, and treated ourselves from head-to-toe and that was the end of that. Thankfully, never to be heard of again.

[Scabies is an Infestation of tiny mites called Sarcoptes scabiei, that are passed by skin-to-skin contact or contact with an infested object such as a towel, bedding, or upholstered furniture. We got ours from the bus upholstery]

The Balsam of Peru had certainly helped me, but I was not as yet a confidant herbalist and thus did not use it on my child or the father. Balsam of Peru has a pleasant fragrant woody odor but can be sort of burning on the skin. And I cannot remember at this time if I had diluted it with anything or if it was tincture of Balsam of Peru that I had originally used.

Alchemical Symbol for Sap

Balsam of Tolu/Peru is called a resin or a balsam. Examples are Peru Balsam or Canada Balsam. Peruvian balsam (“Peru”) is an exudate of Myroxylon balsamum var. pereirae, a tree native to Central America. Peru balsam has a sweet scent like vanilla and is used in the manufacture of perfumes and in many products. Peru balsam has uses in medicine to calm coughs, in the treatment of dry socket in dentistry, in suppositories for hemorrhoids. The plants have been reported to inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis as well as the common ulcer-causing bacteria. It has been used as H. pylori in test-tube studies, so it is used topically as a treatment of wounds and ulcers, as an antiseptic and used as an anal muscle relaxant. Peru Balsam can be found in diaper rash ointments, hair tonics, antidandruff preparations, and feminine hygiene sprays and as a natural fragrance in soaps, detergents, creams, lotions, and perfumes.

Abstract/Scientific Data ~ The significance of fragrance mix, balsam of Peru, colophony and propolis as screening tools in the detection of fragrance allergy. Wohrl S. Hemmer W. Focke M, Gotz M, Jarish R. Br J Dermatol. 2001 Aug;145(2):268-73.
BACKGROUND: Patch testing to fragrances is an important step in the diagnosis of fragrance allergy.
OBJECTIVES: To determine the usefulness of adding propolis to the European standard series to test for fragrance allergy.
Results: The positive results to the standard series in 2660 patients were: fragrance mix 243 (9.1%), Myroxylon Pereirae [balsam of Peru] 144 (5.4%), colophony 32 (1.2%); these fragrance mixtures are used as screening substances for fragrance allergy in the European standard series. Propolis, also known as bee’s glue, was also an important allergen in this locally revised standard series. … patients suspected of fragrance allergy had positive skin tests to the special fragrance series comprising the eight constituents of the fragrance mix (most frequent: isoeugenol 5.4%, oakmoss absolute 5.0%, eugenol 2.5%) and 14 other fragrance allergens (most frequent: clove oil 1.6%, lemon grass oil 0.8%, cedar wood oil 0.7%). The additional value of propolis as another screening substance for fragrance allergy in these patients was low. The likelihood of a reaction to one or more of the extra fragrance allergens increased with the number of reactions to fragrance screening allergens in the standard series.
CONCLUSIONS: The number of positive reactions to fragrance screening allergens in a standard patch test series may be used as a rule of thumb for predicting a positive outcome of a more detailed testing to fragrances. Propolis is an important allergen in its own right but its value as a screening substance for fragrance allergy is limited.

Do not ingest the EO, the resin, the resinoid or the hydrosol of Balsam of Peru/Tolu

Contraindications/Safety Precautions ~ Balsam of Peru is in the “top five” contact allergens most commonly causing patch test reactions in people referred to dermatology clinics. Crude Balsam of Peru is banned by the IFA (International Fragrance Association). Essential oil may not present this problem. However, since Balsam of Tolu is not produced in the same way and even though botanically these are identical trees but with different terroir, Tolu resin may not be allergenic as Balsam of Peru.

Symbol from the Aromatherapy Book, meaning “this oil could cause a problem”^4.

Patch Test ~ If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose band-aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

References:
**^1.Langenheim, Jean H. PLANT RESINS, Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, Ethnobotany. Timber Press. 2003**
^2.Francis N. Gachathi, and Siri Eriksen. Gums and resins
^3.Rose, Jeanne. Herbal Body Book
^4.Rose, Jeanne, The Aromatherapy Book.
⁵ https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/35225
⁶Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things
^7.http://www.bojensen.net/EssentialOilsEng/EssentialOils.htm
⁸Guenther’s The Essential Oils. Volume V,
Alchemy Works. E-mail (not printable)
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin
Book Arts e-mail
Chart Corporation, Inc., (was Pennick) 787 E. 27th St., Paterson, NJ 07504, 201/345-5554 or 973/345-2139
http://herbnature.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3763/cdev.2010.0066
La Paz, Will. Eden Botanicals. Private correspondence
Menninger, Edwin A. Fantastic Trees
Ravines, Patrick. E-mail. >Ravines@BWC.org Scents of Earth website
The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Ed. Lesley Brown. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993.

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

Moderation in All Things.

Be moderate in your use of essential oils and resins as they are just not sustainable for the environment.
Be selective and more moderate in your usage.
Use the herb (plant) first as tea or the infusion. —JeanneRose 2004

Balsam of Tolu 1972 and 1980, Resinoid and balsam

For more education, enroll in either the Herbal Studies Course or
The Aromatherapy Studies Course by Jeanne Rose

GALBANUM, Resin and More

Aug1

Synopsis ~ Galbanum is an oleo-gum-resin, known since ancient times as incense and perfume with a fantastic history, odor, and chemistry; an antiseptic, uplifting and anti-aging application and a pleasure to incorporate in blends and healing perfume.

Galbanum – Using the Resin, Herb and EO

Jeanne Rose files and Correspondance

Hard Galbanum resin and the essential oil over 35 years

Latin Binomial/Botanical ~ Galbanum is from the plant Ferula gummosa and a synonym is F. galbaniflua (Boiss. & Buhse) AND also a synonym is (Ferula galbanifera). It is called a gum extract; and this natural fatty gummy resin (oleo-gum-resin) and the essential oil that is steam-distilled from the resin are both used. It has a strong ‘green’ odor and is used as a fixative in perfume and incense³. See p. 95 The Aromatherapy Book for more background.

Family ~ Galbanum is from Apiaceae or Umbelliferae, a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus Apium and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as the umbellifers.

Naming ~ Ferula means rod or like a walking stick and gummosa means that which is gummy.

Countries of Origin ~ Galbanum comes from Europe, India, Turkey; and Eden Botanicals get their CO₂from India and Iran (Persia).
There is the soft resin called ‘Levant’ that is a very viscous product like thick honey from SW Asia and the Middle East and the hard resin called Persian Galbanum which is a coarse grainy gravel-like substance that sticks together and is brittle and used for industry. (Ms. Grieve in her Modern Herbal says just the opposite, “There are two kinds of Galbanum in commerce, viz. Levant Galbanum and the Persian Galbanum. The latter is softer than the Levant, has a more terebinthic odor, has the smell and consistency of Venice turpentine …”.⁴

General description of plant, habitat & growth ~ Galbanum is a perennial plant growing to 1 meter by 1-meter. It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from May to June, and the seeds ripen from June to August. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (that is, they have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by flies. The plant is self-fertile. The plant soil must be well-drained. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires a rather dry soil.

Root of a Persian Galbanum courtesy of http://www.galbanum.org/

Portion of plant used in distillation, how distilled, extraction methods & yield ~ Galbanum, the aromatic oleo-gum-resin is obtained from wounds made in the stem and is one of the few plants whose roots are tapped for resin. The Galbanum resin occurs in the form of tears and lumps that are round, yellow to brown, translucent and about the size of a pea. It is collected by removing soil from around the top of the root and then cutting a slice off the root and can also be obtained from incisions made in the stem. It is used medicinally and is an important ingredient of the incense originally used by the Israelites.

Yield ~ Galbanum gum contains the essential oil and upon steam-distillation yields 10-22% oil.

Contraindications ~ No hazards known.

Ferula gummosa from 1975-2017

Organoleptic Characteristics of Galbanum:

	Essential Oil – 2016 – Iran	Oleo-gum-resin from Iran
Color:	Colorless to greenish yellow	Black or very dark brown
Clarity:	clear	opaque
Viscosity:	Non-viscous to somewhat viscous	Very, very viscous
Taste:	Bitter and warm	bitter
Intensity of Odor:	2 and with great tenacity in a blend	1 with tenacity

Odor Description ~ The flowers when fresh are said to have an unpleasant smell — Roy Genders from Scented Flora of the World. The smell of Galbanum essential oil is green with subsidiary notes that are woody and herbaceous, and back notes of leather, earth, musky, spice, conifer needles and even a bit of green citrus. I have had Galbanum since 1972 and have had the scent profiled in my classes since 2000. “Green” is the best description like green beans, green peas and cut grass and like the branches of the Giant Sequoia.

A few compounds in low concentration are responsible for the interesting odor characteristics, e.g. 1,3(E),5(Z)-undecatriene (galbanolene), having a unique, transparent, marine, somewhat green and metallic odor, and 2-sec-butyl-3-methoxypyrazine (galbanum pyrazine), having a powerful pea-pod odor and a very low odor detection threshold.² Of the chemicals that makes up the scent of galbanum, these two, isobutylpyrazine and sec-butylpyrazine make up the typical odor note of green bell peppers and green peas … so that is why we describe this odor as “green”.

Solubility ~ Galbanum EO is soluble in 0.5 volume and more of 90% alcohol. On occasion some oils have been found to be hazy in 6-8 volumes of 90% alcohol but always clearly soluble in 10 volumes⁵(that means add 10 times the weight of your sample in alcohol to clearly dissolve it).

Chemistry and Chemical Components ~ The physical and chemicals composition of Galbanum has changed in the last 60 years, possibly because of the better transportation facilities.⁵ Ferula gummosa/galbaniflua is rich in monoterpenes, and sulfur. Monoterpenes such as β–pinene, α-pinene, and Δ3-carene and with over 84 bioactive constituents Galbanum essential oil also includes:α-terpinyl acetate,α-pinene, (Z)-β-ocimene, β-pinene, Δ3-carene, 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine and others.

Historical Uses ~ Pliny says that “Galbanum should be neither moist nor dry … it is taken alone in drink and cureth cough, shortness of breath, and difficultie of wind… it is used outwardly applied for sciatica and pleurisy” and goes on to mention using it with Rose oil and Nard in the ears that run with matter.

Galbanum – Plinie’s Natural History – my copy 1601

Interesting Facts ~ The deep green aroma of Galbanum represents the element of air. It is grounding, uplifting and balancing. It rejuvenates aging skin and is used as a fixative in perfumery and aromatherapy.

Galbanum oleo-gum-resin extract. This is a natural fatty gummy resin; the essential oil is steam-distilled from the resin. It has a strong green odor and is used as a fixative in perfume and incense. The gum has anti-inflammatory qualities that make it a wonderful aid for poor circulation and it can be used in hot compresses for most pain relief.

The scent of Galbanum seems to have diminished over the years and now (2018) seems less intense than it once was. Why this should be may be the result of incorrect harvesting or over-harvesting or overuse. I have shown my collection of Galbanum oil from 1975 to the present, the color is slowly changing and not necessarily from age.

GENERAL PROPERTIES of GALBANUM

Antispasmodic, carminative, expectorant, stimulant, mild antiseptic, anti-spasmodic (ancient usage), decongestant, rubefacient, and as well as a slight anti-inflammatory activity.

Properties (by IG=ingestion or IN=inhalation or AP=application):

Application properties include mild stimulant and antiseptic and a slight anti-inflammatory action.

Ingestion ~ It can be a carminative and so edible uses do include its (the resin) use as a condiment as the gum resin obtained from the root has a celery-like food flavor. Do not ingest the essential oil.

Inhalation ~ as an expectorant it promotes ‘spitting’ and is used for chronic bronchitis.

Physical Uses & How used (IG or AP):
Application/ Skincare ~ The essential oil especially when used with Elemi in skin products is for revitalizing aging skin and in body care products to warm. It has soothing properties, especially on aching hands, feet or joints. Its anti-inflammatory qualities make it a wonderful aid for poor circulation and can be used in hot compresses for most pain relief. Galbanum works on aging skin, wrinkles, acne and scar tissue; it is antiseptic and antimicrobial, wounds are more quickly healed.

Emotional/Energetic Uses (AP or IN) ~ I read in an article (no author listed) that Galbanum was also widely used as a component of incense and is listed in the Holy Bible as part of the sweet spices used to make Holy Incense. Holy Incense was only made for holy communication and for worship … as it was believed to be free from evil. Its preparation required certain rituals and it was forbidden to make such incense just for the pleasure of the senses¹. It is often recommended for use to heal childhood traumas. [In a quiet place, inhale the ancient scent of Galbanum while meditating on the trauma or walking a labyrinth, and removing the painful memory from your mind or at least parking it on the ‘shelf of healed memory’.]

Spiritual – Emotional blockages, negative energies, undergoing personal change, soul transformation.¹Galbanum is mentioned in the bible as part of the ‘sacred incense’.

A Galbanum recipe by Jeanne Rose

Two drops rubbed over the body or added before a bath or shower can help to calm the mind, heal bruises, ease depression, soothe mood swings, ease PMS, relax from stress, fluid retention, eczema, abscesses, musculoskeletal, and conditions pertaining to a sluggish endocrine system.¹

SOLSTICE SCENT

Inhalation Formula ~ My 2016 Solstice Scent for both winter and summer solstice is to mix 16 drops of Xmas Fir (Abies grandis), 8 drops of Blood Orange (Citrus sinensis from Israel) and 8 drops Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica) and 4 drops of Galbanum. I prefer the essential oil over the CO₂ extract as it is more intense. But in any case, this mixture of conifer, citrus, fruity wood and green is very tenacious and a wonderful combination for inhalation or ritual work. There can be a power in the essential oils that may assist you in your rituals. I like this one for its green energy that uplifts and brings green life and green things to my world.

DIFFUSE/DIFFUSION ~ I suggest that you do not use this in a diffuser as it may gum up the works. Use it as it was meant to be by burning as a holy incense.

BLENDING & Perfumery ~ Galbanum works well with any conifer and with other resinous oils and in particularly as a fixative for rich deeply fragrant scents, particularly those in which a ‘green’ scent is desired. Try it in blends and perfumes with Basil, Elemi, Firs, resins, Rose Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender of the soft floral type, Oakmoss, Rose, Violet leaf and Ylang Ylang. Trying to make a floral perfume that resembles the Gardenia, a dab of Galbanum will be very helpful along with Rose, Jasmine sambac, Neroli, Rosewood, and a hint of Styrax.

HYDROSOL ~ I have never seen or used Galbanum hydrosol.

KEY USE ~ Perfume fixative and harmonizing agent.

Symbol for Juice or Sap

Jeanne Rose TOMATO TALES – GALBANUM

Galbanum along with several other resinous oils, are some of my favorites. I admit to overusing them at an earlier time and with Galbanum that overuse makes me have a green odor, like a large bag of green beans, like mowed lawn, like a green bell pepper. My other most-favorite plant is the giant Sequoia, Sequoia giganteum. The Sequoia is a monstrous tree living high in the Sierras, over 36 feet in diameter, and the first branches occur high off the ground. I despaired of ever being able to know what that odor was but twenty years ago a friend got me a Sequoia seedling. I planted that and ten years later was forever happily surprised that the scent of the mighty Sequoia branches is the same scent as the Galbanum. Fallen limbs of the giant Sequoia are sometimes distilled for an essential oil.

SCIENCE ARTICLES ~

Investigation of Compounds from Galbanum (Ferula gummosa) Boiss; F. Mortazaienezhad and M.M. Sadeghian; Abstract • Ferula gummosa Boiss. of Apiaceae family is a native wild plant of Iran, growing in the north and west mountainous regions at heights 1800-3000 m above sea level. It is propagated by the seeds at a temperature of below five degrees centigrade. The best planting season are October and November. The extract is used in the manufacture of bonds, textiles and cosmetics. Cut crosswise or longitudinally, the stem yields a sap containing a large quantity of essence, which can be extracted by water-based distillation. The fruit and leaves also contain some light-yellow essence containing nitrogenated and sulphurated compounds. Extracted and purified the essence yields the following components. (Distillation of fruit extract yielded 8.4% and that the leaves 0.845% essence). This study indicates that when extracted and purified, the sap of Ferula gummosa, thanks to its transparency and high-power bond, can be used to glue on gems and Jewelry. Finally, the extract is used in printing, textiles and perfumery industries. https://scialert.net/fulltextmobile/?doi=ajps.2006.905.906]

Antimicrobial evaluations exhibited that Galbanum oil had the best antimicrobial activity against MRSA and MSSA, followed by fennel and rosemary oil, respectively. http://biozoojournals.ro/bihbiol/cont/v5n1/bb.101102.Mahboubi.pdf

References:
¹ https://hwaairfan.wordpress.com/it-makes-good-scents/galbanum-oil/
²http://www.bojensen.net/EssentialOilsEng/EssentialOils12/EssentialOils12.htm
³Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. San Francisco, California:
⁴Grieve, Mrs. M. A Modern Herbal. Hafner Publishing Co. 1971 (1931)
⁵Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils Vol 4. p 645
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin.
Harman, Ann. Harvest to Hydrosol
https://scialert.net/fulltextmobile/?doi=ajps.2006.905.906
Jessee, Jill. Perfume Album. Krieger Publishing. 1951.
**Langenheim, Jean H. PLANT RESINS, Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, Ethnobotany. Timber Press. 2003**
Mabberley, D.J., Mabberley’s Plant Book, 2008 Third Edition with 2014 updates, Cambridge University Press
Maury, Marguerite. The Secret of Life and Youth.
Pliny. Plinie’s Natural History – my copy 1601
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose & Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1992.
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/galbanum-

Alchemical symbol for juice or sap

GALBANUM GREEN LIMERICK
There is a spring smell called green
It is just like a smelly green bean
Green smells Galbanum
Not like Labdanum
And the green smell makes quite the scene.

Sustainability: These items may not be sustainable in the amounts that are being used.
Endangered or not: Some of these plants are considered to be threatened and/or endangered due to heavy usage, people moving into the areas where they live and by over-tapping.
Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.
Irritants: Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.
Safety Precautions: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most resinous oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapists suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.
Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

Galbanum in the desert.

Moderation in All Things.

Be moderate in your use of essential oils as they are just not sustainable for the environment.
Be selective and more moderate in your usage.
Use the herb first as tea or the infusion. —JeanneRose 2014

Labdanum/Cistus Resin_EO_Hydrosol

Jun24

Synopsis ~ Labdanum and Cistus are not the same, but they come from the same plant and both have important use in perfumery – both with a luscious fragrant rich scent. This profile provides a detailed description with growth, description, chemistry, odor and uses.

LABDANUM/Cistus Resin & EO/Hydrosol Profile
By Jeanne Rose ~ July 2018

Cistus ladanifer – the plant that produces Cistus oil and Labdanum resin

INTRODUCTION: Labdanum and Cistus. This plain plant with its wondrous resin has been one of my favorites since I first learned of it back in 1969. I knew of Cistus as a plant growing in the San Francisco Arboretum but here in San Francisco it has very little odor as it doesn’t get hot enough. One day, some time ago, in June when it was clear, sunny and very hot I rubbed the leaves and they were sticky and fragrant. That is when I began to study it in my antiquarian herbals, one of which I had acquired back in 1970 (Dioscorides). How can anyone ignore a plant that was once harvested from the wool of goats?

COMMON NAME/LATIN BINOMIAL: CISTUS and LABDANUM are two products of the Cistus ladanifer (syn. ladaniferous) plant. Cistus is the essential oil distilled from the leaves and twigs of the same plant that produces the resin called Labdanum that is scraped from the leaves. Other Cistus species that are also used for Cistus EO and Labdanum resin include Cistus creticus and the subspecies incanus).

Family: Cistaceae is a family of perennial shrubs, flowering plants, found on dry and rocky soil with about 20 species.

Other Common Name/Naming Information: Cistus is from the Greek and simply means Rock rose because they frequent rocky-places, and this is a common name that is given to several other species of plants as well. The common Greek name is simply ladan. Cistus ladanifer is also called the gum Rockrose and the resin also called Ladanum.

Naming misinformation: Some people misspell and misuse the word Laudanum for Labdanum. Laudanum (a ‘u’ not a ‘b’) is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Reddish-brown and extremely bitter. Labdanum (with a ‘b’ not a ‘u’) is the resin from the plant Cistus.

COUNTRIES OF ORIGINS: Portugal, Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands.

Eden Botanicals Harvest Location: Spain and my Cistus hydrosol is from Portugal.

ENDANGERED OR NOT: On the list of threatened plants.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PLANT HABITAT AND GROWTH: Cistus ladanifer is an evergreen shrub and grows quickly to a height of about 5 feet and 3+ feet wide. They are thermophilous plants, meaning heat-loving and which require open, sunny places. It likes dry granitic hills with sandy well-drained soil and can tolerate heat, drought and sea exposure. It flowers in June, and though the flowers have both male and female parts, it is self-incompatible as the pollen can germinate and obstruct the stigma. Some books suggest that it is self-fertile. The plant is bee-pollinated. The flowers are white or pink with a simple structure. Cistus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some butterfly species. The petals are papery and crumpled, most commonly pure white, with numerous bright yellow stamens in the center and there is also a form which has a dark purple or crimson blotch at the base of each petal. The leaves are elongated and covered with glandular trichomes that secrete a viscous gummy balsam that exudes when it is hot. Because of the content of pinene, the plant is quite flammable, possibly can self-ignite, and is responsible for some serious fires. Spain is a leading producer of Labdanum.

PORTION OF PLANT USED IN DISTILLATION, HOW DISTILLED, EXTRACTION METHODS AND YIELDS:

There are four Labdanum products of the Cistus plant + one Cistus steam-distillate from the leaves and twigs: the gum collected from the leaves and twigs during the hottest time of the year; the resinoid produced by treating the gum with hot alcohol and concentrating it; the EO collected from the steam-distillation of the crude gum; and the concrete and absolute of Labdanum which are extracted by volatile solvents.

Labdanum resin is obtained by collecting and boiling the twigs in the spring and early summer, skimming off the resin as it comes to the surface. “Labdanum Absolute is obtained by solvent extraction of the resin – and is very much different in scent and color and viscosity from steam distilled Cistus essential oil from the leaves. The changing climate conditions, such as chilly early springs with very high summer temperatures, is contributing to lower yields, has reduced chemical complexity and increased the costs for the growers/collectors. However, both Labdanum and Cistus extractions result in intense, powerful aromas, used in very low percentages.” Yield: 0.1% – 0.2%

For Cistus essential oil, direct steam distillation of the young twigs and leaves produces the traditional quality essential oil of Spanish Cistus. The distillation yield is very low, only around 0.1% of the fresh plant.
Yield: Results are discussed from 0.1% to 0.3%.

ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS:

Odor Description/ Aroma Assessment:

Cistus EO has a peculiar, warm, fruity-floral scent, herbaceous and notes of moss, camphor, powder and leather-hay odor that is intense but less tenacious than Labdanum and is used with Lavender in spicy men’s products.

_____Labdanum has a rich, tenacious, but not intense odor of sweetness, smoky-woody, leather, powder, earthy-moss, with back notes of honey-animalic, floral with fruity overtones. It is an odor loved by me, by many and extraordinarily useful in many types of perfume application. It recalls the odor of ambergris and is in fact used as a vegetable substitute for ambergris in a perfume base note or as a fixative. The odor is tenacious in a blend but not intense, it lends a subtle richness to any perfume you use it in.

GENERAL PROPERTIES

Labdanum was historically known and used in herbal medicine for 1000s of years and is still used in the preparation of perfume. Cistus is considered antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-arthritic.

Cistus EO in the Arctander book

Labdanum is the sticky brown resin obtained from the shrubs Cistus ladanifer (western Mediterranean) and Cistus creticus (eastern Mediterranean), species of rockrose. It has a long history of use in herbal medicine and as a perfume ingredient.

Properties and Uses:

Cistus leaf tea is useful for children illness such as whooping cough and for adults for general all-over body inflammation.

Cistus tea is used as a treatment for Lyme Disease. The conclusion of the study, showed that to date, clinical work with wild harvested pure Sardinian Cistus tea and whole leaf Stevia is the least invasive yet most effective treatment for Lyme disease and many other modern chronic illnesses, caused by persistent and hidden infections. For more information read “Dr. Klinghardt Biological Lyme Protocol” at the Klinghardt Institute page. See the entire article at https://kiscience.com/sardinian-cistus-incanus/

Application/Skincare Uses: Cistus EO and tea has great application in skin care, particularly oily skin, acne skin and irritated skin. Use it in your lotions, other creams and clay masks using white clay. It is used for mature skin, wrinkles and the EO as an inhalant for coughs and bronchitis.

Cistus Anti-Wrinkle Lotion, a recipe by Jeanne Rose

I like to purchase an 8-oz bottle of pre-made unscented lotion with organically grown ingredients and then add my own special additions. If the lotion is thick I will thin it with some Rosemary or Cistus hydrosol until it is the texture that I like. Then I add 5 drops of Cistus EO to an ounce of my thinned lotion. I add the drops and with a long narrow thin wooden spoon, I stir in the EO, stirring around and around, up and down, figure 8 round and round. This is a sing-song that I do until the EO and hydrosol is thoroughly incorporated into the lotion. I only make an ounce at a time as it is easy to do and keeps the balance of the lotion fresh to make something else with. I apply this Cistus Lotion alternately with the Elemi/Galbanum Lotion every evening before bed.
https://jeanne-blog.com/elemi-resin-herb-eo/

• • •

Emotional/Energetic Uses (AP or IN): Labdanum is used by inhalation and is considered to have a powerful ability to bring up past lives and past or buried memories. It is very helpful in ritual work.

Diffuse/Diffusion: Do not diffuse Labdanum as it is a sticky resin and even the steam-distilled product has the ability to gum up your diffusor. I suggest that you learn to use this substance in other ways and use the Labdanum and the Cistus essential oil in your perfumes.

HYDROSOL USES ~ Cistus hydrosol is available and just a wonderful product to use. It is bright and fresh and cleansing to the skin. I get mine from “Naturalness” in Portugal and it is available through them. This wonderful product is harvested using the stems and the leaves in the early morning until noon using pure gravity supplied water from a stream and steam-distillation. Use it as a spray after putting on make-up to set it, or on your clothes that have been crushed in a suitcase to freshen them or on the pillows before sleep. You can also carry it in your purse to spray on utensils before you use them and on hair or hands to refresh them. I am particularly fond of Cistus hydrosol.

The distiller recommends it : Cistus hydrosol is a powerful but gentle astringent. It is used as a daily toner for extremely oily, acne-prone, or irritated skin. For dry skin, only use as a 20% solution with other hydrosols or distilled water.

PLEASE NOTE: A true hydrosol should be specifically distilled for the hydrosol, not as a co-product or even a by-product of essential oil distillation. The plant’s cellular water has many components most are lost under pressurized short steam runs for essential oil, or by using dried material. We recommend that the producers specifically distill for a product by using plant material that is fresh.

HERBAL USES ~ “The use of the Cistus incanus has a long history and can be traced back to the 4th century BC. In the Middle East, northern Africa and the European Mediterranean region the Cistus incanus was enjoyed as a wellness tea for breakfast and indeed right throughout the day as a drink for relaxing after a strenuous day. When guests arrived, it was common to offer a freshly boiled pot of the Cistus tea. “The knowledge of the benefits of this tea were passed on late into the middle Ages.”³

See above for reference to the use of Cistus leaf tea as a treatment for Lyme disease.

JEANNE ROSE’S TOMATO TALES

A Personal Story of Labdanum

Labdanum resin/resinoid/absolute/EO is a favorite of mine and when I teach Perfumery classes I encourage the students to use my absolute that dates back to 1969. We make an old perfume called Chypre in the class. See formulas at the end and read my Natural Perfumery booklet.

Years ago, about 1970, I made a mixture of Labdanum resin that I had read in an old herbal that also used Benzoin and Storax with Civet, spike Lavender and spices. It was to be inhaled to ‘comforte the brain’. It looked interesting and certainly doable and whose brain does not need a certain amount of comforting. I found it was like playing with mud and very messy. I wrote about this in my first book, Herbs & Things, and if you want to try it, there are two recipes on pages 153-154.

These raw resins can stick almost permanently to everything. If you make it … “keep one mortar and pestle aside just for this type of recipe or for any recipe that calls for the heating of ‘beating’ of a resin. It was nearly impossible to roll the combination into a ball especially with the stinky civet, so I finally dipped my hands into the powdered Benzoin and Storax (sort of like dipping your hands into flour to roll out bread or cookie dough) and rolled the resin around. This gooey mess stuck very tenaciously to my hands and it took two days to wash it all off, but at least now I had a ball of resin. I then pierced the ball with a bodkin (big blunt needle with big eye) and hung it from a string.

It immediately oozed away from the string, plopped to the ground, and proceeded to ooze amoebically about the floor, peeling up paint as it went. It was then that I finally realized the exact nature of this pomander. It was and is ever-flowing and takes on the shape of whatever object it is on or in. I captured the now pancake-shaped resin, rolled more Storax into it and put in on the ledge above a window. Within a day it had migrated off the shelf and down the wall. It smelled deliciously but it left a trail of black resin (rather like the slime trail of a snail). Again, I captured it and this time rolled it up and stuck it in the freezer, to freeze. After thinking about it for some time I let it out of the freezer and put it immediately into a small black leather bag. We call it the Mental-Health Bag. The more you massage the bag, the more it smells, the better you feel, and the more powerful and tranquilizing its effect on the brain.”¹ — Herbs & Things.

And I still have this fragrant Bag of Mental Health creeping around after 47 years.

Chemical Components: Comparison of Main Components: “The main components were α‐pinene (39%), viridiflorol (11.8%), ledol (3.3%) and bornyl acetate (3.1%). The occurrence of cyclosativene, γ‐cadinene, (E)‐β‐farnesene and β‐eudesmol in the essential oil of Cistus ladaniferus is reported here for the first time. Then, in order to study the chemical variability of individual oils, 20 samples were examined. α‐Pinene (11.1–47.4%) was the most abundant component in 18 of the 20 samples, followed by trans‐pinocarveol (4.4–10.9%) and viridiflorol (4.7–10.7%). Two samples exhibited a different chemical composition, not as yet described, characterized by the predominance of viridiflorol (20–22.6%), ledol (6.4–6.7%) and trans‐pinocarveol (5.4–8.6%).” © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. — Composition of the Essential Oil of Cistus ladaniferus L. Cultivated in Corsica (France) by J. P. Mariotti , F. Tomi , J. Casanova , J. Costa , A. F. Bernardini , First published: 28 April 1999

Jeanne Rose collection of Cistus & Labdanum from 1972 to the present

HISTORY ~ The plant has been known since ancient times and has been described by Dioscorides, Herodotus and Pliny. Dioscorides says, “Now, that which we call Ladanum, is made of this plant. For the Hee goats, & shee goates, feeding on the leaues hereof, doe manifestly beare away the fatnesse of them on their beards and on their thighs, because it is of a viscous nature, which taken off thence they straine, & hauing fashioned them into little balls, lay them vp in store.”⁴

In ancient times, labdanum gum from Cistus creticus, a close relative of the species Cistus ladanifer – the only one used today – was collected in Crete in two ways: “Pliny says that the gum was harvested by combing the coats of goats that grazed in the cistus-covered hillsides; and later it was collected by thrashing the branches of the cistus plants with a leather strap and then scraping that strap with a knife. Cistus’ glutinous properties made these forms of harvesting possible. Today, most cistus production takes place in Spain, where the leafy branches are collected using a sickle before being processed.”²But this may be where its history of being ‘leather scented’ comes from.

“In ancient Egypt, the false goat-hair beards of the pharaohs were impregnated with labdanum to surround these men with an impressive aura of distinction. The Cypriotes mixed Labdanum with Styrax and Calamus oil, thereby creating an early masterpiece of perfumery. The Crusaders, when they conquered the island, became so enthusiastic about the fragrance that they brought the recipe to the rest of Europe. It was known as the ‘Chypre’-theme, it is still employed in modern perfumery.”

Cistus creticus, has a subspecies, C. incanus , and is thought to be the ‘myrrh’ of Genesis. The resin of both are obtained by boiling twigs and skimming the resin from the surface of the water. —Mabberly.

NATURAL PERFUMERY

Labdanum is a sticky brown resin obtained from the shrubs Cistus ladanifer (western Mediterranean) and Cistus creticus (eastern Mediterranean), species of rockrose. It has a long history of use in herbal medicine and as a perfume ingredient. Labdanum is a powerful fixative in perfumery and is valued as a substitute to replace ambergris.

Modern uses –Labdanum is produced today mainly for the perfume industry. The raw resin is usually extracted by boiling the leaves and twigs. An absolute is also obtained by solvent extraction. An essential oil is produced by steam distillation.

The raw gum is a dark brown, fragrant mass containing up to 20% or more of water. It is plastic but not pourable and becomes brittle with age. The absolute is dark amber-green and very thick at room temperature. The fragrance more refined than the raw resin. The odor is very rich, complex and tenacious. Labdanum is much valued in perfumery because of its resemblance to ambergris.

In order to distinguish between Labdanum Absolute (which is usually the absolute from concrete extract of the plant material) and Labdanum Gum Absolute, the suppliers have resorted to using various odd names for their products. These products should have at least one thing in common: alcohol solubility. Labdanum Resin Absolute is a fairly logical designation for the alcoholic extract of crude Labdanum gum. In other words, it is an alcohol resinoid of Labdanum, prepared in a one-step hot or cold extraction. This product is also the cheapest of all the available alcohol soluble and generally applicable Labdanum extracts. Blends well with citrus oils.

To use the thick gum or the absolute in perfumery, it is most useful to dilute it 50•50 by volume with 95% neutral spirits (I prefer 95% neutral grape spirits). It will slowly dissolve in the alcohol, especially if kept warm or over a warm water bath. Always watch what you are doing and do not leave or abandon any warming resin in alcohol — that will surely be the time that something negative will happen.

Blends Best with: Labdanum – abs … The concrete is alcohol extracted to obtain the absolute. It is semi-solid soft and sticky green colored substance. It needs to be diluted in (grape spirits) alcohol to be used. The scent is balsam, herbal and spicy resin, warm and rich. Works well with citrus, Lavender bases, green and conifer scents. There are many types of absolute: from concrete, from resinoids. Labdanum 50•50 is Labdanum diluted 50% with neutral spirits. Various types of essential oil are produced by the steam-distillation of the leaves, twig and are usually called Cistus EO.

BLENDING

Galbanum & Labdanum/Cistus Base Accord

Dilute each of your Galbanum and Labdanum 50•50 with neutral grape spirits.
Let the above age and meld for a week.
Take 12 drops of Galbanum (50•50) and 12 drops of (50•50) Labdanum (and Cistus if you wish) and mix together. Age it for 1-week. Smell and experience.
After it ages, you can add equal amount of grape spirits to make a 25% pure scent base. Give it a name that you will remember.

A CHYPRE PERFUME

A Simple Chypre Perfume is made as follows:

5 drops of Bergamot + 5 drops White Grapefruit + 5 drops of Clary Sage with sclareol

1 drop of Oakmoss dissolved in several drops of alcohol

5 drops of Patchouli + 2 drops of Rose + 1 drop of Neroli

3 drops of Labdanum (pre-dilute in alcohol or purchase the Eden Botanicals Clear + 3 drops Atlas Cedarwood

The total equals 30 drops. Age this for at least 2 weeks (maybe more) and then add 90 drops of alcohol (95%) and age again for 3 weeks before you decide to do or not do anything else.

Equals 4 ml of finished scent at 25% perfume ingredients by volume.

INTERESTING INFORMATION: The Ladanesterion or lambadistrion is the tool made of leather leads used to comb out the Labdanum from the Cistus plant. It was described Pedanios Dioscorides in the 1^st century AC. It was also described by the French botanist, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, in his travel in Crete in 1700. The tool today has been replaced with plastic.

Abstract/Scientific Data: Anti-Dengue Virus Activity of the Oleoresin Labdanum of Cistus creticus.

During the epidemics of the mediaeval period, doctors in Byzantium and Italy developed the “Alipta muscata” as a preventive medicine against epidemics. When treating the “black death” doctors constantly used it for self-medication. The main ingredient of “Alipta muscata” was the oleoresin labdanum of Cistus creticus L. [1]. While the “black death” is mostly interpreted as Yersinia pestis, there is also an alternative interpretation as a viral hemorrhagic fever [2]. We tested several extracts and fractions of labdanum on their activity against the dengue virus (DENV-2 strain 00st-22A) in in vitro cultures on Vero cells (96-well-plates, 5 days). This haemorrhagic fever affects up to 500 million patients annually with no chemotherapeutic agent available and causes 20.000 deaths. Preliminary experiments with a labdanum full extract did not yield measurable results due to cytotoxic effects against Vero cells. In all following experiments, cell viability was constantly checked using the MTT-test. Fractionation of the dichloromethane raw-extract by liquid-liquid-extraction and column-chromatography on silica-gel (gradient elution with Hexane, EtOAc, CHCl₃, MeOH) succeeded in separating the anti-viral activity of labdanum from its cytotoxic effect. In the most active fraction GS5 at 30 µg/ml, the dengue virus proliferation was 100% suppressed and cell viability over 90%. Structural elucidation of major constituents of GS5 is currently ongoing. Claims concerning the antiviral activity of above ground parts of C. creticus have been made previously, but these generally ascribe this activity to hot water soluble polyphenols and propose an unspecific tanning effect of the viral surface proteins as the mechanism of action [3]. We describe an antiviral activity of a dichloromethane extract of labdanum against a virulent hemorrhagic fever like dengue for the first time.

— https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0037-1608551

KEY USE: The Oil of Perfumery

REFERENCES:
¹Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things. Only available from jeannerose.net with coil binding.
²http://www.albertvieille.com/en/products/86-labdanum-resinoid-spain.html
³http://labdanum-creta.blogspot.com/2010/04/cistus-incanus-power-of-rock-rose-menu.html
⁴ Greek Herbal of Dioscorides. Hafner Publishing Company. 1933 from the great work of first century A.D.
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Elizabeth, NJ. 1960
Guenther, Ernest. The Essential Oils. Volume VI. Reprint 1972.
Herbal Studies Course/ Jeanne Rose .2015 edition. San Francisco, California
http://www.andalucia.com/environment/wildflowers/the-gum-cistu
Langenheim, Jean H. Plant Resins. Timber Press. 2003
Mabberley, D. J. Mabberley’s Plant-Book, 3^rd edition, 2014 printing, Cambridge University Press.
Pliny. Plinie’s Natural History. My copy is dated 1601.
Poucher, William A. Perfumes and Cosmetics. Van Nostrand Company. 1923
Rose, Jeanne. 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd., 1999
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book: Applications & Inhalations. North Atlantic Books. 2000
Rose, Jeanne. Natural Botanical Perfumery. JeanneRose.com. 2002

Sustainability: These items may not be sustainable in the amounts that are being used.

Endangered or not: Some of these plants are considered to be threatened and/or endangered due to heavy usage, people moving into the areas where they live and by over-tapping.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most resinous oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapists suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

Irritants: Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

Labdanum Limerick

Labdanum is a resin that oozes
Diluted it works on your bruises
Cistus the leaf
Is good on beef
And in perfumery it always amuses.

—JeanneRose2018

Odor Profile of Labdanum resinoid diluted 50•50 with 95% grape alcohol

RESIN, RESINOIDS, GUMS, ESSENTIAL OILS

Apr29

Synopsis ~ to help the student of aromatic essences to understand the nature of particular plant exudates, resins and resinoids. Over 25 different resin, resinoids and gums are discussed.

RESIN, IS IT EVEN SUSTAINABLE?

A Brief Overview

By Jeanne Rose

Elemi resin (Canarium luzonicum)

What is Resin? Jean Langenheim, a true expert in the field, defines a resin as “primarily a lipid-soluble mixture of volatile and nonvolatile compounds that are secreted in specialized structures and of potential significance in ecological interactions.”. Her book, Plant Resins is simply all about resins, almost 600 pages in length and is absolutely a fantastic resource. Furthermore, she is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCSC (Santa Cruz), and is considered a pioneer for women in science.

“The hard-transparent resin, such as the copal, dammar, mastic, and sandarac, are principally used for varnishes and adhesives, while the softer odoriferous oleo-resins (frankincense, elemi, turpentine, copaiba), and gum resins containing essential oils (ammoniacum, asafoetida, gamboge, myrrh, and scammony) are more used for therapeutic purposes, food and incense.” — Wikipedia

This short paper is to help the student of aromatic essences to understand the nature of these particular plant exudates. It also includes the various items that are usually discussed with the resin such as resinoids – compounds extracted from resins; gums – water-loving complex sugars; gum resins; oleoresins; oleo-gum-resins; balsams; and sometimes other items.

Oils courtesy of Eden Botanicals

> In Alphabetical order

Gums can be natural or synthetic. Our discussion only allows for natural gums. Gums are polysaccharides that are water soluble and secreted by cavities in the plant. Strictly speaking, gums are always water-soluble.

Example: Gum Acacia, Gum Tragacanth.

Gum Arabic or Acacia gum (Acacia senegal) also called gum Arabic. It is water soluble and when dissolved in boiling water, clarifies and makes a very good adhesive that is used, among other things, to make scented beads and pomanders. The gum is edible, nutritive, and acts as a demulcent to soothe irritated mucous membranes. It is also an ingredient in medicinal compounds for diarrhea, dysentery, coughs and catarrh. The bark of the Acacia plant is very rich in tannin. (Herbs & Things)

The word “gum” is truly an herbal term, as gums are used in herbalism to make sticky solutions in cosmetics, or to adhere dry ingredients together.

Resins are sometimes called gums. However, gums form solutions or “sols” with water, resins do not. Resins are insoluble in water.

The gums also include Chicle which is sometimes called a gum although it is a latex sap that comes from the Sapodilla tree.

Gum resin. Extruded naturally from plants or trees. Consist of both a gum and a resin, sometimes with a small amount of EO. Usually a solid – like a ‘tear’ and then liquefied with alcohol. —Langenheim describes gum resin as a “resin in which carbohydrates from the breakdown of the epithelial cell walls have mixed with the terpenoids … or following damage to the secretory structure such as pine gum resin; or some plants produce both gum and resin such as Commiphora”¹.

Example: Benzoin

Oleo-gum-resin is a term to describe oleo (oily or fatty in nature or look) gum (partly soluble in water) resin (partly or wholly soluble in alcohol). Therefore, an oleo-gum-resin has a nature that is partly soluble in water and alcohol and partly soluble in oil and looks oily. Consists mainly of oil, gum and resin. It is liquid as it exudes and solidifies on contact with air and can be liquefied with alcohol.

Example: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Opopanax.

Oleo-resin. Prepared or natural material. Exude from trees – trunks or barks. Sometimes they are prepared and form as an evaporation residue. “They are relatively fluid terpenoid resin with relatively high proportion of volatile to nonvolatile terpenes compared to other resins.¹” Oleoresin often contains “fixed” oils. They can be described with color: clear, viscous, and light-colored. Solid from the tree and can be liquefied with alcohol.

Example: Copaiba balsam SD to get Copaiba oil

Resins. Resins are Natural or Prepared. Resins exude from trees or plants. All Pines produce resin. And you can even say that all conifers produce resin. Resins are formed by nature and some resins are prepared in the laboratory as oleoresins. Resins are solid to semi-solid, amorphous. If they contain no water, they are translucent. They are usually solid, odorless, not soluble in water. They can be described generally as products that are used as incense, such as Copal from Mexico and Benzoin. These only yield a fragrance upon burning, although they can often be dissolved in alcohol and then can be used in perfumery or as a tincture for healing.

Langenheim defines “plant resins as primarily a lipid-soluble mixture of volatile and nonvolatile terpenoids and/or phenolic secondary compounds that are 1) secreted from specialized structures and 2) of potential significance in ecological interactions.”^1.

Example: Copal, Sandarac.

Resinoid. Obtained from resins. Resins are solvent extracted, yielding an alcohol-soluble substance, that is less dense, stickier and liquid-like, called a resinoid. These are viscous liquids and semi-solid. In a perfectly prepared resinoid, the odiferous material or essential oil is left intact. Olibanum resinoid is typical. The Olibanum or natural oleo-gum-resin has been made soluble for perfume use by the removal of the water-soluble gum. Resinoids are “compounds extracted from a resin, usually volatile compounds used for fragrance.¹”—Langenheim

Example: Resinoid of Frankincense.

Rosin – Prepared from resins. It is the solid amber-colored residue obtained after the distillation of crude turpentine (gum rosin), or of naphtha extract from Pine stumps (wood rosin) used in adhesives, varnishes, inks, etc. and for treating the bows of stringed instruments. “Rosin is the nonvolatile diterpene fraction in pine resin.¹”

Example: a solid form of resin after the distillation of crude turpentine oleoresin, or naphtha extract from Pinus spp. stumps.

alchemical symbol for rosin

Balsams. Balsams are less fluid than oleoresins, they are soft, they are fragrant. They are “relatively soft and initially malleable resin, generally fragrant; sometimes restricted to phenolic resins of this kind.¹”

Example: Peru Balsam or Canada balsam.

CONCLUSION.

Often the terms gum, resin, resinoid, essential oil is used to describe the steps in the processing of natural exudates from plants, such as from Myrrh and Frankincense. There is confusion in the terminology and it is sometimes difficult to really know one from another. In some commercial productions a plasticizer is added in extremely small amounts (1/10th of 1%) to the essential oil to keep it in a liquid form, and because of this the resins like Frankincense, Myrrh, Labdanum, and Galbanum, thus do not yield true essential oils according to aromatherapy terms.⁴ . If you leave one of these essential oil of Frankincense or Myrrh out in the air, it will soon solidify as the alcohol and/or plasticizer will soon evaporate or the oleo-gum-resin will revert to its solid form. There are small artisan distillers that are using hydro-distillation to obtain very high quality essential oils ~ I hope that you will support them.

I will proceed further and discuss in detail some of these items in my collections.

spirit of wine

Burning the 1975 Benzoin on charcoal as incense

Resins, Resinoids, Gums

A COLLECTION OF THE ANCIENT RESINS/RESINOIDS/GUMS (2018)

A variety of aromatic substances are mentioned throughout the Bible and ancient texts. These substances are mostly resins from aromatic plants that have been used throughout history in a variety of ways to increase spiritual awareness, center the psyche, and to aid meditation practice. The essential oils of these plants can be used for benefits to mind, body, and spirit…Looking at and comparing samples from my collection dating from 1970 to present shows that many of these plant exudates are less in quality than they once were. This may be because of over-harvesting, improper harvesting, or is the result of excessive use from the public. ~ Examine!

ACACIA: Gum Acacia or Gum Arabic. Acacia spp. “This gum is slowly soluble in water and provides a gelatinous acid base for non-oily cosmetics. It makes a demulcent and emollient base, very soothing to all skin surfaces.”³“In its natural state gum Arabic comes in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. The color of the gum may vary from colorless through different shades of yellow, amber, orange, red and dark brown. The best grades from A. senegal are in the form of whole, round ‘tears’, orange-brown in color and with a matt surface texture. Gum from A. seyal is more friable than that produced by A. senegal and is rarely found as whole lumps. Use of gum Arabic falls into three main sectors: the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry and industries such as printing, ceramics and textiles (Chikamai and Odera, 2002). Locally, it is eaten as food and has some medicinal uses²”.

AMBER: Amber Oil Fossilized, probably Pinus succinifera, L, Family – Pinaceae. The origin of amber is somewhat uncertain; it is believed to be a fossil resin, produced by the hardening of the resinous exudates of largely extinct trees of the Coniferae family. The excellent author, Jean Langenheim in her fantastic book, Plant Resins, has much to say on this resin as it has been known and through a lengthy geologic time. Sources of Amber include the Dominican Republic in the Newe Worlde and the “Baltic area of the Olde Worlde. It exists all over the world in many countries, although the Baltic amber constitutes the largest and most widespread deposition of amber in the world¹.”^.

“It is not strictly true that there are no pure amber oils. There is an amber oil that is destructively distilled from Baltic amber (fossilized tree resin) – although it is rare and hard to get – and very hard to find a real one that was distilled properly. It is not an essential oil (in my book) and so I will still maintain that there is no true amber essential oil. How can you distill an essential oil from a 50,000-year-old piece of fossilized pine resin? Destructive distillation may yield oil but not an essential oil as we are used to using the term.” — Will Lapaz in 2010.

Prayer or paternoster beads made from Amber have a long history.

https://jeanne-blog.com/?s=Amber

Arabic or gum arabic. See Gum Acacia.

ASAFOETIDA. I have to say that even though I have had this resin in my arsenal since 1970, I have never used it for anything. Everything I know about it is from smelling and tasting from my original samples and researching. It is commonly called ‘devil’s-dung’ because of the extremely pungent odor. The scent repels dogs and cats but is used as bait for catfish and pike.

Asafoetida is the dried latex or gum oleoresin from the root of a perennial species, Ferula spp., often Ferula asafoetida of the Family Apiaceae (like Galbanum) . It comes from the dried sap extracted from the stem and roots and is used as a spice. This is one of the rare resins extracted from roots. The resin is greyish-white when fresh but dries to a dark amber color. It is native to Afghanistan and Iran but is mostly grown and obtained from India. It is used in cooking for a flavor somewhat like Leeks and therapeutically as a digestive aid to reduce gas, as a condiment and in pickling foods.

Its use has been traced to 700 B.C. It is sold as a resin where pieces are scraped off or a 30% compound with gum arabic (see the picture) to dilute the strong odor as the smell is pungent and strong and will contaminate other items that are nearby. In experimental models, asafoetida causes hypotension and thinning of blood through vasodilatation and increased fibrinolytic activity. As a result, asafoetida enhances the anticoagulation effect of warfarin. See https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/asafoetida

BALSAM OF PERU & BALSAM OF TOLU. Myroxylon balsamum. These large trees can be found from Guatemala to Nicaragua, but the conditions needed for producing Peru Balsam exist only in a small region of El Salvador, in the highlands an hour’s drive west of the capital San Salvador. Peru balsam is harvested in successive phases. The bark is burned, and these specific spots are covered with pieces of cloth that absorb the exudate. The cloth is then pressed, and the balsam is purified by boiling.

Balsam Peru 1972 –EO Myroxylon balsamum or M. balsamum var. pereirae is the same as Balsam of Tolu but a different physiological forma (and from a different area). Native to Central (El Salvador) and South America. See the Botany section from your textbook, 375 Essential Oils & Hydrosols. This is a balsamic oleoresin, containing both resin and essential oil. It has a warm, woody, vanilla-type odor and has many therapeutic uses for skin care as well as a wonderful addition as a fixative in perfumery.

I love my Balsam of Peru
It goes well in scrub with bamboo
It is sticky and sweet
And can’t be used neat
But with heat it is no longer like glue—jeannerose2012

Balsam Tolu EO – EO Myroxylon balsamum or M. balsamum var. toluiferum is the same as Balsam of Peru but different physiological forma (and from a different area). It is native to South America (Columbia) and only slightly different than Balsam of Peru in that the branches begin at 45 feet above ground. The scent is the same, balsamic, vanilla-type, warm, and smoky. The balsam is steam-distilled, with a high ester count, used as anticatarrhal, expectorant, indicated for chronic respiratory conditions and used commercially as an expectorant in cough formulas or in soap. See page 110 of Herbs & Things or page 69 The Aromatherapy Book.

Note: In botanical nomenclature, a form (forma, plural formae) is one of the “secondary” taxonomic ranks, below that of variety, and describes the physiologic look of a species that is different from the same species elsewhere. Some plants, although identical taxonomically may have slightly different forms or ‘looks’. If nature is responsible for the different look it is a ‘forma’, if man breeds the difference or for that look it is a ‘cv or variety’.

BENZOIN & STYRAX.

Benzoin. (See also Styrax) BENZOIN is an Asian gum resin, Styrax benzoin. In its natural state it is a ‘tear’ that is solid, has no scent, can be handled and rubbed and fondled like a small irregular rock. It is a called a resin and is extruded naturally from The Styrax Benzoin tree, Styrax tonkinensis, and other species of Styrax. In its raw state it consists of both a gum and a resin, sometimes with a small amount of EO. It is not water-soluble, as you would think a gum is. It can be burned on charcoal and will smoke like any incense. It is a preservative in skin care products or an addition to essential oil blends. Diluted with blends or alcohol. The scent is sweet, balsamic, woody, fruity and floral – it acts as either a base note or a fixative in perfumery. Resin from Styrax is also called gum Benjamin and the most common Asian species is the Benzoin.

This is the very confusing worlds of words as the words. Benzoin, Storax, Styrax are used interchangeably but are actually different resins (Styrax benzoin and other species) is Benzoin, while (Liquidamber of several species) is Storax,or Styrax and are used interchangeably but are actually two different resins from several different trees. Styrax is the genus for Benzoin while Liquidamber is the genus for Storax/Styrax . This is where thousands of years of using common names will totally confuse the resin user and likely make you want to tear your hair out by the roots.

Storax is a sweet-smelling exudate and in fact that is what the root word from the Arabic means. But Storax comes from several species of Liquidambar spp.; Turkish Storax is Liquidamber orientalis while American Storax from the southeastern USA, Mexico and Guatemala, although similar to L. orientalis is called Liquidambar styraciflua. (See also Styrax)

Resin oils compliments of Eden Botanicals

Chicle: is a latex sap that comes from the Sapodilla tree. Chicle or Naseberry (Manilkara zapota), a native tree of Central America and the West Indies. The fruit is also known as the Sapodilla. The fleshy pulp is used to make sapodilla custard and ice cream. Chicle gum is extracted from the sap of the trunk and is used in some natural chewing gums to this day. It was once a major component of chewing gums, often mixed with latex from the jelutong tree (Dyera costulata), a Malaysian rain forest tree in the Apocynaceae. Large Chicle trees were originally tapped by tree-climbing workers called chicleros. Although the rubbery latex is a polyterpene, it does not vulcanize into durable rubber. [Vulcanization is the addition of sulfur to rubber to form cross-linking of the isoprene subunits with disulfide bonds, thus improving the elasticity of the latex and making it impervious to weather.] Chicle can be mixed with incense to make it burn and smolder longer.

CISTUS AND LABDANUM: See Labdanum

COLOPHONY – PINE RESIN: Wild-harvested Colophony, Colophonium spp., from Portugal, an oleo-resin from a type of Pine, has multiple uses. In some sources it is considered a type of Copal and this is also a common name for Rosin. (see Rosin). Prepared from resins. It is the solid amber-colored residue obtained after the distillation of crude turpentine (gum rosin), or of naphtha extract from Pine stumps (wood rosin) used in adhesives, varnishes, inks, etc. and for treating the bows of stringed instruments. “Rosin is the nonvolatile diterpene fraction in pine resin.¹

Copaiba Balsam: Copaifera spp. From the family Fabaceae. A canopy tree of the rainforests, usually found in well-drained sandy loams. It is quite aromatic and very pungent and used in medicine and cosmetics. It is very interesting in that Copaiba balsam resin is tapped from standing trees and used as a source of biodiesel. It is anti-inflammatory and used in skin products.

Copaiba balsam – 2008

Copal: Agathis spp. The civilizations of Central America, the Incas, the Aztecs and the Mayas, with only remnants of the Maya, survive today in Guatemala, existed for three millennia from 1500 BC. These peoples burned large quantities of incense, made from Copal Resin and Copal Wood, as offerings, and used tobacco leaves for their aromatic properties. The practice of burning incense remains today a part of the way of life for the remaining Maya, who have used this device for millenia in support of their prayers for rain and for their safety.

Copal from 2006

Dragon’s Blood: Dracaena draco, a phenolic resin that is very dark ruby red from two different plants of different origin. One species, D. cinnabari, is alluded to by Dioscorides, Pliny the Elder and other ancient writers. The resin was considered magical and medicinal. Some species a source of varnish and used to stain marble. There is a full-grown Dragon’s Blood tree in the garden at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA and one in the San Francisco Botanical Gardens as well. In my collection of Dragon’s Blood from 1972, I have a tube of Dragon’s Blood resin wrapped in a palm leaf as this is the way it was originally packaged.

Elemi: Canarium luzonicum, CO₂ wild resin and steam-distilled (from Prima Fleur). Elemi is extracted using steam distillation or super critical carbon dioxide extraction from the resin of a tropical tree native to the Philippines. It is a member of the Burseraceae plant family, and is closely related, and thus produces a resin that resembles Frankincense and Myrrh. In Arabic, a translation of Elemi is similar to the saying “as above, so below. Marguerite Maury believed that Elemi with Galbanum would rejuvenate the complexion and eventually the body. It is used in products and perfumery. Try it in your skin-nurturing ritual; protect and nourish the skin with a 2% combination of these two ingredients in your night cream and daytime protection cream.

Biolandes Elemi resin on the cut tree

For more information see the Elemi blog post ~

https://jeanne-blog.com/elemi-resin-herb-eo/

End PART I OF resins … more to come

Start PART ii OF resins …

Beautiful Frankincense 1972 – present
I have a collection of Frankincense resin tears from 1972 to the present, resinoid and essential oil from 1975
and Frankincense CO²from 2008 to the present.

FRANKINCENSE: (Boswellia sacra and syn. Boswellia carteri are two forms of the same species) The two wild trees of Frankincense as well as Myrrh, which to this day are still left in their wild state, organically grown, not cultivated, or farm-grown, are harvested by tribes such as the Bedouins in Somali.

The trees are excised. The globs of gum exude from the excision. The globs (or tears) are collected, brought to market, graded according to size and color. In the case of Frankincense, the smaller, lighter-colored tears are used in ritual and as church incense. The tears are graded in the marketplace, purchased by large companies and sent to their home countries for processing.

“The tears are processed by heat and extraction to produce the purified resin. The resin is then further processed via the application of alcohol in a vacuum extraction chamber to produce the liquid resinoid. The resinoid is then further processed by distillation to produce the essential oil. As each of these steps progress, less and less substance is reduced, and the price goes higher and higher.

In some larger commercial companies a plasticizer is added in extremely small amounts (1/10th of 1%) to the essential oil to keep it in liquid form.^4.” Leave an essential oil of Frankincense or Myrrh out in the air, and it will soon solidify as the alcohol and plasticizer evaporate. Therefore in this case, Frankincense and Myrrh, Labdanum, Galbanum, do not yield true essential oils according to aromatherapy terms.

Artisan distillers are producing the essential oils of these resins by slow careful hydro-distillation. And I hope people are supporting these efforts.

Courtesy of EdenBotanicals.com

Frankincense is a much-favored incense for churches and other places of spiritual ritual. The essential oil calms and awakens higher consciousness. It is also helpful in coping with grief, to soothe the mind and emotions. It is useful as an inhalant for respiratory conditions, in body care products for aging skin and to warm the skin.

Please see the blog post for more information.

https://jeanne-blog.com/frankincense-fabulous-ancient-remedy/

GALBANUM: This deep green aroma represents the element of air. It is grounding, uplifting and balancing. It rejuvenates aging skin and is used as a fixative in perfumery and aromatherapy. (Ferula galbaniflua) gum extract. This is a natural fatty gummy resin and the essential oil is steam-distilled from the resin. It has a strong green odor and is used as a fixative in perfume and incense. See p. 95 The Aromatherapy Book for more background. The essential oil especially when used with Elemi is used in skin products for revitalizing aging skin and in body care products to warm. It has soothing properties, especially on aching hands, feet or joints. The gum has anti-inflammatory qualities that make it a wonderful aid for poor circulation and it can be used in hot compresses for most pain relief. Galbanum seems to work well on aging skin, wrinkles, acne and scar tissue; it is antiseptic and antimicrobial, wounds are more quickly healed.

Galbanum through the years 1975-2010

I have shown my collection of Galbanum oil from 1975 to the present, the color is slowly changing and not necessarily from age.

GAMBOGE: Garcinia spp. A gum resin collected from the bark of trees from tropical Asia and southern Africa and used as pigmented varnish. It is classified as a type of Dammar. Gamboge was at one time used an antibacterial medicine. The species G. hanburyi is the best known and also called gutta Cambodia. Spiral incisions are made in the tree bark, the resin flows, is collected and pressed into cakes. I have had my box of Gamboge since 1980, maybe earlier.

LABDANUM AND CISTUS: Cistus ladanifer is the essential oil distilled from the leaves and twigs of the same plant that produces Labdanum from its resin.

Labdanum clear from Eden Botanicals

MASTIC: Mastic Pistacia lentiscus L. This resin is produced primarily from the male tree (an evergreen dioecious shrub) growing in the southeastern part of the Greek Island of Chios in the Aegean Sea, or more correctly mastic is an oleoresin containing little oil. This small bushy tree occurs throughout much of the Mediterranean region and is also found in North Africa. It has a strong resinous odor, grows about meters high and is only fully grown in 40-50 years. In 2016, 40% of the Mastic trees were destroyed by fire. Because of the fires, please limit your use of Mastic for at least the next 25 years until the trees can be regrown.

The Mastic tree produces the natural oleoresin from the trunk, which is obtained by wounding the trunk and larger branches with a gouge like instrument which makes an incision about 2 cm. long and 3 mm. deep. Mastic occurs in yellow or greenish-yellow rounded or pear-shaped tears about 3 mm. in diameter. The tears are brittle but become plastic when chewed. An essential oil is produced by steam distillation from the oleoresin or occasionally directly from the leaves and branches. It was once used primarily as a masticatory and is mixed with sugar and eaten as a dessert or sweetmeat/spoon-sweet with bitter coffee.

Mastic has been in use, grown, harvested and used for over 2500 years. It was chewed as a remedy for digestion, may prevent tooth decay and when it was consumed often would decrease total cholesterol. Mastic is the original Olde Worlde chewing gum while Spruce gum or Chicle is used in like manner in the Newe Worlde.

Mastic is tasteless in a tasty way and a small tear can be chewed for hours without seeming to melt away. Since it does not have a strong taste, it doesn’t get tiring to chew like American chewing gum. I put a small tear in my mouth when writing this part of the article, slowly let it soften and then chewed it a bit and still had it in my mouth three hours later. It was pleasant to chew. I also love Chicle but think I like Mastic more.

My collection of Mastic dating to 1973

Mastic Tree

http://www.codif-tn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/LAKESIS-FICHE-BOTANIQUE-GB.pdf

MYRRH: Commiphora myrrha (molmol). obtained from “tears” of resin exuding from incisions made in the bark of this small tree of the Burseraceae family that is native to Yemen, Somalia and eastern parts of Ethiopia. It is extracted by distillation or supercritical fluid extraction with natural carbon dioxide. By inhalation it can calm fears about the future and cools the air and emotions, while being antiseptic to the lungs and good for problems of the throat. Read the blog-post already posted about Myrrh for a lengthy discussion of uses.

For a profile of Myrrh please see https://jeanne-blog.com/myrrh-eo-co2/

OAKMOSS: Evernia prunastri (Usneaceae). Oakmoss is solvent extracted, light Brown in color, opaque, with a medium viscous nature, and often used in Perfumery as a Base Note with an aromatic strength of medium (6-7 on a 10- point scale. It is a rich, earthy, woody scent, and adds to the smell of the forest with its dry fungoid earthy-woody odor. In spite of its name, Oakmoss is not a moss but lichen, rather resinous, growing on the bark of deciduous and coniferous trees. It was used in perfumery as early as the 16th century. Baskets filled with it have been found in the ancient royal tombs of Egypt, but whether it was intended for perfume is not known. A mixture of phenolic acids extracted from Oakmoss has been used in drugs for treating external wounds and infections. In modern time Oakmoss has been collected in France, Morocco and Yugoslavia and extracted for perfumery purposes (‘Mousse de Chêne’), but today some of the most important active-active ingredients are made synthetically.

OPOPANAX: A resin, Commiphora erythraea var. glabrescens (C. opobalsamum) family (Burseraceae) Bisabol Myrrh, Balm of Mecca. This is another of the famous resins of the Orient; see also Myrrh and Olibanum (frankincense). Etymology: The term “Opopanax”, meaning “all healing juice”, (is a source of confusion, since this word is also used for the gum latex from several Umbellifer, e.g. from Opopanax chironium (Pastinaca opopanax) (Umbelliferae), indigenous to the Mediterranean area.) All members of this family are resinous. The genus Commiphora are thorny bushes and small trees. They are important elements of the African dry-land vegetation.

other livestock ailments. Commercially, it is a well-established herbal medicine, and used in essential oils and cosmetics.²”

OUD, ALOE WOOD Agarwood, Gharu wood: Aquilaria spp., also Aquilaria agollocha, family Thymelaeaceae is a rare, costly oil. These trees are not so rare, but the oil can only be made from wood that has been infected by a fungus which produces an oleoresin in defense that then saturates the wood. This saturated wood is then processed for the Oud. Some Oud is produced on plantations and cultivated in tea rich Assam in India, but this is considered to be of inferior quality to the wild-produced Oud. Oud is incense, oud is used in medicine to soothe the nervous system, for aching muscles and joints, to treat the birthing mother to ‘open’ the flow of energy in the body.

This is a rare substance and should be used only rarely and only in moderation.

PINE PINYON RESIN 2002. Pinus spp. A native (to the USA) tree that produces a fine resin that is sacred and has been used in ceremony and traditionally as incense to heal the spirit. It golden in color with a fine coniferous scent.

ROSIN: See Colophony

SAL TREE RESIN (Shorea robusta) from Myanmar, India and is a type of Dammar (like Gamboge) that is soluble in turpentine but occurs as pale creamy colored aromatic stalactites, sometimes dug from beneath trees. The wood of the tree is used as hardwood timber that is resinous and durable. The lumber and the tree resin known as sal dammar is used as an astringent in Ayurvedic medicine, or burned as incense in Hindu ceremonies, and used as well to caulk boats and ships.

SANDARAC: Sandarac is the resin exudate from the tree Callitris quadrivalvis Vent. It is a conifer native to northern Africa, Morocco. Gum Sandarac resin from Tetraclinis articulata has a warm, light, fruity, balsamic, frankincense-like fragrance. It is used as pounce, and originally used to prevent ink from spreading on unsized paper or powdered and rubbed on paper to treat the paper to hold ink or sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing. This is something that I have done for over 30 years after learning about Sandarac from Ward Dunham, Special Forces warrior, calligrapher and Enrico bartender.

alchemical symbol for Sandarac

and Sandarac gum

The health properties are cleansing, strengthening and clarifying. Sandarac is probably not toxic, because resins in tear form are not, however precautions should be taken, and it should be kept from children’s reach. For an extensive study of Sandarac, please read my study about ‘pounce’.

http://www.aromaticplantproject.com/articles_archive/Sandarac_Pounce.html .

STYRAX & STORAX: (See also Benzoin) Storax Liquidambar orientalis from Asia & Styrax is Liquidambar styraciflua Central America and Benzoin is a balsamic resin from Styrax tonkinensis from Siam and Sumatra. This is an example of 3 ancient trees producing a resin but from different terroir and having similar genus names but specific species names. The name’s the same but the plants are not. Always know your plants by their correct Latin binomial and even terroir.

“Styrax – which I prefer to call Liquidambar to keep it from being confused with Benzoin (even though it is still mostly known as Styrax in the industry) – is not very common and actually hard to find. Styrax we have is from L. styraciflua from Honduras and not the Levant Styrax (L. orientalis). This is one possible difference, it is worth noting that the two species do have significantly different chemical compositions. … It is a very viscous gum resin with an aroma that nearly matches airplane glue.” —Will Lapaz.

I take my resin and dissolve it in neutral grape spirits before I use it in perfumery. It is a powerful fixative odor when used in perfumery.

Styrax was introduced as a mounting medium in 1883. Originally Styrax was used in the laboratory to mount microscopic animals on slides. They were fixed with alcohol or acetic acid and mounted in Styrax. Styrax has been used to mount all microscopic creatures onto glass slides and fix them so that they do not deteriorate. “Mount in Styrax. Unlike Euparal, this has a refractive index which is markedly different from that of siliceous diatom frustules and makes them stand out very clearly. At stage (4) single specimens can be selected and mounted individually if required.” — Techniques for the rapid preparation of permanent slides of microscopic algae by P.E. Brandham

Some of Jeanne Rose personal 50-year collection of Storax/Styrax

STYRAX ~ A TOMATO TALE

In the late ‘50s when I was at University, I used to mount my own collections on slides – it was a special project and so this scent will always remind me of my days in a science lab. “The small creatures are fixed in 1:3 acetic alcohol, the coverslip immersed rapidly. Care should be taken not to overcrowd the cells and then they are mounted in Styrax. Owing to its content of high boiling constituents, Styrax acts as a most efficient odor fixative.” The oil is used in all kinds of perfume compounds, particularly those of oriental character.

This is one of my most favorite evocative odors, when I smell the strong spicy, herbaceous and oily, aldehydic odor I am wafted directly back to the science lab at San Jose State University in 1957. It is a relaxing luscious scent when used in modest amounts in a perfume, especially those of the Chypre sort. Here is one of my favorite early potpourri scents and bases.

Styrax ~ courtesy of Eden Botanicals

Early Chypre Potpourri/Sachet ~ An Herbal Preparation

8 oz Orange flowers – WH	2 oz Benzoin – PO	1 oz Storax – PO
4 oz Oakmoss = CS	2 oz Bitter Almonds – CS	1 oz Clove – PO
2 oz Rose buds = WH	2 oz Cardamom – CS	1 oz Sandalwood – CS

Add 1 drop of each odor to each of the like named Plant. Let each age for 1-2 weeks. Mix the flowers together. Cut or mash the Almonds and mix with the flowers. Add the Oakmoss. Mix the powdered Benzoin, Storax, Cardamom and Clove together and add to the Sandalwood. Now mix it all together and let it all age for 2 weeks. Put the Sachet into beautiful bags and give away as gifts.

Potpourri ingredients are generally left in whole form so that the form of the plants is still identifiable (with fixative ingredients in powder form) while Sachet ingredients are all comminuted and/or powdered form.

Cistus ladanifer and Ferula spp.

Labdanum (Storax/Styrax) & Galbanum Base

Dilute each of your Galbanum and Labdanum 50•50 with neutral grape spirits.
Let the above age and meld for a week.
Take 12 drops of Galbanum (50•50) and 12 drops of (50•50) Labdanum and mix together. Age it for 1-week. Smell and experience. Give it the name that it evokes.
After it ages, you can add equal amount of grape spirits to make a 25% pure scent base.

FIXATIVES ~ See also Gourmet Perfumery

https://jeanne-blog.com/gourmet-perfumery/

Fixative is an old term for any natural substance that will hold and ‘fix’ the scent in a perfume and that helps a fragrance last longer on the skin. Alcohol-based scents are the most fleeting, so you want to add something to help “anchor” the scent. This is usually done by lowering the evaporation rate of the alcohol. Benzoin and Frankincense, other resins and Tolu and Peru balsam are some of the more common additions to a blend that will help to ‘fix’ it. . Orris root is also an excellent fixative, but it is a sensitizer (as is Benzoin), so perhaps reserving these for your potpourri mixtures might be a good idea. Fixatives are generally in the base notes and kept at about 3-5%. Fixative can be a powerful part of the scent. Some think that any fragrance fixatives might impart is kept to a minimum. The resins can be mixed with alcohol and added, or they can be part of the original blend. If the resins are mixed in the alcohol, they should be allowed to steep for about a month then any debris filtered out. Certain base notes also have fixative properties due to their slow evaporation rate: Labdanum, Myrrh, Sandalwood, Patchouli, etc. Since these also tend to be strong scents, they are kept to a minimum in a perfume formula, usually around 10-20% of the total base note scent.

However, some of these odors with powerful fixative qualities can be integrated into the scent as a base and form a powerful base; the formula of which can be used over and over again in other perfumes to make a fragrant accord.

Alcohol Perfumes. Perfumes using fine alcohol as a diluent will keep longer, hold a better odor and will not go rancid as do the carrier oil-based perfumes.

The resins can be mixed with alcohol and added to the perfume, or they can be part of the original blend or perfume. If the resins are mixed in the alcohol, they should be allowed to steep for about a month, as they dissolve slowly, then filtered carefully to remove any particles. Certain base notes also have fixative properties due to their slow evaporation rate: Labdanum, Myrrh, Sandalwood, Spikenard, Patchouli, etc. Since these also tend to be strong scents, they are kept to a minimum in a perfume formula, usually around 10-20% of the total scent.

Thank you to Eden Botanicals for the many samples of resins to look at, and work with

USE THESE RESINS/OILS FOR YOUR HEALTH AND WELLBEING. Use them for physical health ~
Use them moderately and occasionally to balance and heal emotional trauma ~
Use them less frequently to ground yourself and to find awareness of your spiritual center ~
Use the whole plant resin first as an incense ~
and the essential oil/resinoid as a second choice ~
~ be a Conscious Consumer, ecologically thoughtful ~

Alchemical Symbol for Healing

Endangered or not: Some of these plants are considered to be threatened and/or endangered due to heavy usage, people moving into the areas where they live and by over-tapping. Dutch and Ethiopian researchers studying populations of the Frankincense trees in northern Ethiopia found that as many as 7% of the trees are dying each year and that it could be gone within 50 years.

Use the essential oils in moderation. Use the herb tea or resin when it is more appropriate.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Safety Precautions: Do not apply the essential oil neat, especially to the underarms or delicate parts of the body. Most resinous oils are probably not to be used on babies, children or pregnant women. Many aromatherapists suggest that there are some oils not be used at all. However, as with many plants, essential oil chemistry is subject to change depending on species and terroir.

Irritants: Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.

Patch Test: If applying a new essential oil to your skin always perform a patch test to the inner arm (after you have diluted the EO in a vegetable carrier oil). —Wash an area of your forearm about the size of a quarter and dry carefully. Apply a diluted drop (1 drop EO + 1 drop carrier) to the area. Then apply a loose Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If there is no reaction, then go ahead and use the oil in your formulas. —The Aromatherapy Book, Applications & Inhalations, p. 64

DISCLAIMER: This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. Dosages are often not given, as that is a matter between you and your health care provider. The author is neither a chemist nor a medical doctor. The content herein is the product of research and personal and practical experience. Institute of Aromatic & Herbal Studies – Jeanne Rose©

Bibliography
**^1.Langenheim, Jean H. PLANT RESINS, Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, Ethnobotany. Timber Press. 2003**
^2.Francis N. Gachathi, and Siri Eriksen. Gums and resins: The potential for supporting sustainable adaptation in Kenya’s drylands.
^3.Rose, Jeanne. Herbal Body Book
^4.Industry private communication, 1985
Alchemy Works. E-mail (not printable)
Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin
Book Arts e-mail
Chart Corporation, Inc., (was Pennick) 787 E. 27th St., Paterson, NJ 07504, 201/345-5554 or 973/345-2139
Etherington & Roberts. Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology. E-mail. Is gum Sandarac poisonous? RUPS@wmich.edu
Guenther’s The Essential Oils. Volume 2,
http://herbnature.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html
http://www.bojensen.net/EssentialOilsEng/EssentialOils.htm
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3763/cdev.2010.0066
https://www.the-dermatologist.com/content/review-colophonium
La Paz, Will. Eden Botanicals. Private correspondence
Menninger, Edwin A. Fantastic Trees
Ravines, Patrick. E-mail. >Ravines@BWC.org Rose, Jeanne. Herbs & Things
Scents of Earth website
The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Ed. Lesley Brown. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993.
US Department of Labor, Material Safety Data Sheet, 1995.

“The pursuit of money interferes with a fulfilling life! “— Peter Coyote (1966)

Moderation in All Things.

Be moderate in your use of essential oils as they are just not sustainable for the environment.
Be selective and more moderate in your usage.
Use the herb first as tea or the infusion. —JeanneRose 2004

A plethora of Resins

SCIENCE ARTICLE ~ Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Azulene ..F. Alan Andersen, First Published April 1, 1999 Research Article

Science article ~ Safety assessment of Ylang–Ylang (Cananga spp.) as a food ingredientGeorge A. Burdock, Ioana Carabin. From Food and Chemical Toxicology, vol. 46, issue 2, February 2008, pg. 433-445.

NEROLI. Essential Oil/Hydrosol Profile

By Jeanne Rose ~ June 2019

Enniscrone Seaweed Baths, Ireland

Amber at the beach collecting Seaweed & Archimedes understanding displacement

Seaweed salad on the shore

Infusion bag

Alaria Fresh in the ocean……………………….

In the ocean, Kombu dried and on the table, and then in the bath.

Very large tea infuser ball

Seaweed on the beach at Garrapata State Park – 2014

MASTIC Essential Oil &/or Herb Resin Profile

APPLICATION/ SKINCARE: GUM MASTIC (Pistacia lentiscus)

Fan Diffuser

Abstract/Scientific Data About the Gum Resin Mastic:

~JR~

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

My only analyses of Mastic using the Advanced Vocabulary of Odor

See Natural Perfumery Workbook to use. 2016.

Epsom Salts – photo by JeanneRose

This booklet was written to accompany the SPA class that I gave yearly for 20 years, I updated it regularly and it is still available at /books.html

HERBS

OTHER PLANT MATERIALS that are considered herbs

SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT

Tea Ball as an Herbal Bath Infuser ~ photo JeanneRose

Loofah Scrubbers

All rights reserved 2003. No part of this article may be used without prior permission from Jeanne Rose. ©Author’s Copyright and Jeanne Rose, info@jeannerose.net

BENZOIN/STYRAX/STORAX RESIN EO Profile By Jeanne Rose ~ Sept. 2018

Styrax and Benzoin from 1972-2018 – photo by Jeanne Rose

Some of Jeanne Rose personal 50-year collection of Storax/Styrax

Family name of the two main genus called

Benzoin/Styrax/Storax

red Siam gum benzoin

Liquidamber styraciflua –USA

Benzoin resin from Sumatra, alcohol extract courtesy of Eden Botanicals

Symbols from The Aromatherapy Book showing that Benzoin/Styrax can be a skin irritant and to dilute before use.

Burning Benzoin or Styrax Resin

Liquidamber Styrax ~ courtesy of Eden Botanicals

Use this potpourri in closets or drawers to scent your belongings.

My copy of Plinie’s Natural History – 1601

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Alchemical symbol for healing

Essential Oil & Absolute Courtesy of EdenBotanicals

Balsam of Peru/Tolu

•

Alchemical Symbol for Sap

Symbol from the Aromatherapy Book, meaning “this oil could cause a problem”4.

Balsam of Tolu 1972 and 1980, Resinoid and balsam

Galbanum – Using the Resin, Herb and EO

Hard Galbanum resin and the essential oil over 35 years

Root of a Persian Galbanum courtesy of http://www.galbanum.org/

Galbanum – Plinie’s Natural History – my copy 1601

Symbol for Juice or Sap

Alchemical symbol for juice or sap

Galbanum in the desert.

Cistus ladanifer – the plant that produces Cistus oil and Labdanum resin

Cistus EO in the Arctander book

And I still have this fragrant Bag of Mental Health creeping around after 47 years.

Abstract/Scientific Data: Anti-Dengue Virus Activity of the Oleoresin Labdanum of Cistus creticus.

Sustainability: These items may not be sustainable in the amounts that are being used.

Endangered or not: Some of these plants are considered to be threatened and/or endangered due to heavy usage, people moving into the areas where they live and by over-tapping.

Do not Ingest essential oils: Although some oils are important flavoring oils in the flavor industry and thus ingested in very small amounts in many foods, especially meats and sausages, it is not a good idea to use them yourself either in capsules or honey to take internally.

Irritants: Some of the gums and resins can be quite irritating or sensitizing. Use the Patch Test before applying.

Elemi resin (Canarium luzonicum)

Oils courtesy of Eden Botanicals

alchemical symbol for rosin

spirit of wine

Burning the 1975 Benzoin on charcoal as incense

Resin oils compliments of Eden Botanicals

Copaiba balsam – 2008

Copal from 2006

Biolandes Elemi resin on the cut tree

Beautiful Frankincense 1972 – present I have a collection of Frankincense resin tears from 1972 to the present, resinoid and essential oil from 1975 and Frankincense CO2 from 2008 to the present.

Courtesy of EdenBotanicals.com

Galbanum through the years 1975-2010

Labdanum clear from Eden Botanicals

My collection of Mastic dating to 1973

Mastic Tree

http://www.codif-tn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/LAKESIS-FICHE-BOTANIQUE-GB.pdf

Science article ~ Safety assessment of Ylang–Ylang (Cananga spp.) as a food ingredient
George A. Burdock, Ioana Carabin. From Food and Chemical Toxicology, vol. 46, issue 2, February 2008, pg. 433-445.

**APPLICATION/ SKINCARE: GUM MASTIC (Pistacia lentiscus)**

**See Natural Perfumery Workbook to use. 2016.**

This booklet was written to accompany the SPA class that I gave yearly for 20 years,
I updated it regularly and it is still available at /books.html

All rights reserved 2003. No part of this article may be used without prior permission from Jeanne Rose.
©Author’s Copyright and Jeanne Rose, info@jeannerose.net

BENZOIN/STYRAX/STORAX RESIN EO Profile
By Jeanne Rose ~ Sept. 2018

***Liquidamber styraciflua –*USA**

**Symbols from The Aromatherapy Book showing that Benzoin/Styrax
can be a skin irritant and to dilute before use.**

Symbol from the Aromatherapy Book, meaning “this oil could cause a problem”^4.

Beautiful Frankincense 1972 – present
I have a collection of Frankincense resin tears from 1972 to the present, resinoid and essential oil from 1975
and Frankincense CO²from 2008 to the present.