Labdanum

This sample is one of a collection of raw perfume ingredients that was generously donated to us by Roja Dove, a master perfumer, fragrance historian and storyteller, whose intoxicating bespoke scents use only the finest ingredients.

Labdanum is a gum resin exuded by the glandular hairs on the leaves and stems of specific varieties of the Cistus or rock rose plant, which grows freely in Corsica, Crete and the South of France. It was originally laboriously scraped off the beards and fur of goats that had rubbed up against sticky Cistus shrubs whilst grazing. Nowadays the far less labour-intensive method of boiling young shoots in water is used to obtain labdanum gum, and the essential oil is extracted by steam distillation.

Labdanum is described by Roja in his book The Essence of Perfume as having a lingering and ‘very smooth, warm, soft, sweet, and sensual odour’ which is very reminiscent of ambergris’ animalic qualities. This gummy resin is one of a handful of key raw materials that are used to create the leather olfactory family in perfumery, which is so-called because its members have a dry, smoky and warm fragrance that brings to mind the characteristic smell of leather. The link between leather and perfume is an ancient one: animal skins have been paired with perfumed oils for centuries to mask powerful odours from the animal or from the urine, manure, fish oils and other pungent ingredients often used in tanning and dyeing processes. During the renaissance, the leather gloves and boots of the nobility were often laced with frangipani and ambergris to ‘sweeten’ their smell.

It's not only labdanum’s smoky, leathery and warm fragrance that has been highly prized for millennia: so have its medicinal properties. The Egyptians reportedly used labdanum resin for embalming corpses, and it has historically been used to treat disorders as varied as toothache, stomach ache, whooping cough, anxiety and insomnia. Modern medical research has shown there’s some truth in these historic claims. Studies have show that active ingredients in labdanum could be used to control diabetes and treat neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s, and it is also being investigated for use in wound dressings because of its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.