Extracting Roots

In this edit we explore the materials/notes in perfumery that come from under the ground.

There aren’t many roots in perfumery and most of them are technically rhizomes (underground stems), but there is a royal perfume material among them: orris. It comes from the roots (rhizomes) of iris. The note of iris in perfumes is a woody/leather note coming from the twisted bulb that forms under the ground. The iris flowers have no distinct aroma and cannot yield any material useful to perfumers. The rhizomes however, when dried, pulverized and extracted produce a material (orris butter) that has a complex (musky, ambery, green, fruity and leathery) pleasant and extremely long lasting aroma.

The other star root is vetiver. It comes from tropical locations such as Haiti, India, Indonesia and so on (we also have a Dorset vetiver in our perfume portfolio). This root has a dry spicy, ambery aroma occasionally with a green or salty nuance.

Then you have relatively the rare calamus and asafoetita and a bit easier to come across angelica and ginger. For the enclosed selection and corresponding sample pack we picked perfumes with a distinct note of one the fabulous perfumery roots.