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Orris Root

"The Florentine iris is one of the oldest flowers in cultivation. It is said to be the model for the Fleur-de-Ly's of heraldry. When dried and ground, orris root (really the underground stem) produces a powder possessing the fragrance of violets, used by the Victorians as face powder. It is one of the chief ingredients of the famous perfume Frangipani and used in many other perfumes, cosmetics and in pot-pourris. It is used as a fixative in the manufacture of perfumes." A Garden of Herbs by Agnes Walker


Aged Orris Root 


Orris Absolute
This, one of the most expensive of all natural materials, is on a steady retreat from the perfumers shelf. This fact is due not only to the high price of orris absolute (about three times the cost of Jasmin absolute, or 50% higher than Bulgarian "otto" of rose), but also because of the appearance of a number of fine synthetic chemicals which either reproduce the principal notes in orris absolute, or are actually present in the natural material and have been duplicated in organic synthetics.
Orris absolute is mainly used in perfumes, and only in high-class lotion types or similar bases where the price does not prohibit its application. It blends extremely well with all muguet materials, ylang-ylang, mimosa, cassie, cassione, linalool, sandalwood oil, cyclamal, nerol, geraniol, phenyltropine, etc. or with ambre bases, apple blossom, lilac, violet, tearose bases, etc..

Orris Resin
Orris Resin (so-called) from alcohol extraction is a low-cost, very hard and rather dark product which is used in soap perfumery for its excellent fixative and deep-sweet, slightly woody-tobacco-like odor. The alcohol-extracted products are also distinguished by their "winy" top note and their sweet root-like undertone.

Adapted from Steffen Arctanders Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin


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