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Family: Florals

Magnolia: a lemony white flower and how perfume captures it

Magnolia is a genus of trees with large fragrant flowers, and the southern magnolia's white blooms smell of lemon and citronella. In perfume, the note draws on Asian champaca flowers and on jasmonate molecules such as Hedione.

Large white southern magnolia flower open above its glossy leaves

Where does magnolia come from?

Magnolia is an ancient genus that dates back to the Cretaceous, and its flowers are thought to have evolved for pollination by beetles, before bees existed. The southern magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora, is native to the coastal plain of the south-eastern United States, from Virginia to central Florida and west to East Texas. The botanical profile of the southern magnolia describes white flowers up to 30 cm across, with waxy petals.

What does magnolia smell like?

Southern magnolia flowers are lemon-citronella scented. The magnolias perfumers actually use come from Asia: champak (Magnolia champaca, formerly Michelia champaca) is known for its strongly fragrant cream to yellow-orange flowers, and an essential oil is extracted from the flowers of white champaca (Magnolia × alba), a hybrid grown across Southeast Asia and tropical East Asia.

How do perfumers recreate magnolia?

Magnolia accords lean on jasmonates. Methyl jasmonate occurs naturally in the scent of jasmine, tuberose and magnolia, and its synthetic relative, Hedione, was fully characterised and synthesised between 1957 and 1962 by Edouard Demole at Firmenich. According to the chemistry entry on methyl dihydrojasmonate, adding Hedione to a classic citrus structure in 1966 created a dewy, lemony magnolia-jasmine dimension without being directly floral. For flowers that give no essential oil, perfumers also use headspace analysis, which captures the air around a living bloom.

What should you know about magnolia?

Magnolia sits in the florals family, next to jasmine and tuberose, whose scents share the same jasmonates, and to Hedione, the molecule that brought that freshness into modern perfumery. Botanists now fold the former genus Michelia into Magnolia, which is why champak carries the magnolia name. The Class on natural versus synthetic explains how one molecule can stand in for a flower.

Often paired with

Hedione Jasmine Tuberose

Further reading

Magnolia in the feed

kasia.berlinin Florals & Bouquets · Berlin ·

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