Note · Aromatic herbs
Bay laurel
Laurus nobilis
Photo: anandasandra (new tab) / Pixabay (new tab)
Bay laurel leaves yield an aromatic, fresh and spicy oil with hints of clove and eucalyptus, familiar from Mediterranean cooking.
What it brings
An aromatic, spicy freshness.
Origins and uses
The laurel of perfumery is bay laurel, Laurus nobilis, a shrub of the laurel family probably from Asia Minor and settled around the Mediterranean for so long that it may be native there. Sacred to Apollo, it crowned the heroes, poets and victors of Antiquity, and the French word "baccalauréat" is said to come from "bacca laurea", the laurel berry. Its leaves flavour bouquet garni, sauces and marinades.
Distilled, these leaves give an essential oil rich in 1,8-cineole, along with linalool, pinene and eugenol. In perfumery, bay laurel brings a fresh aromatic note, slightly camphoraceous and spicy, that lifts aromatic, woody and amber accords.
In our catalogue, bay laurel appears in the heart of Jubilation XXV Man by Amouage, between honey and cinnamon, and in Thé Noir 29 by Le Labo, alongside tea, fig and bergamot.
Text written with the help of AI, based on reference sources: encyclopedias, raw-material manufacturers and official information from the fragrance houses.
Material profile
- Family
- Aromatic herbs
- Nature
- Natural material
- Botanical name
- Laurus nobilis
- Origin
- A shrub of the Mediterranean basin.
- How it is obtained
- Steam distillation
- On Volute
- 3 fragrances