Kathi KevilleFamiliar as a culinary herb, sage comes from Spain and Asia Minor. In medieval times it was used as a nervous-system tonic to reduce tics or epilepsy. Because its essential oil has antioxidant properties, the herb was used to preserve food. In...
“Sweet marjoram” is native to Asia but is a naturalized citizen of Europe, where singers preserve their voices with the honeyed tea. It was used in weddings to symbolize honor, happiness, and love. A marjoram species was probably the...
One of the oldest perfume materials, sandalwood has been in use for at least 2,000 years. It begins producing oil only after 30 years. Mysore, India, produces the best-quality oil, which is regulated by the government, but oil is also available from...
Well-known to herbalists as “lemon balm,” melissa is a southern European native. A medieval favorite, it was the main ingredient in “Carmelite Water,” along with lemon peel, nutmeg, coriander and angelica. It was used for...
This large Australian tree, sometimes also spelled “ti,” is related to eucalyptus. There are many species and subspecies; all have an interesting bark that curls off the trunk, giving them the name “paperbark.” Studies show...
A common Australian tree-also called by the less poetic name “black wattle”-mimosa is grown in Africa, Europe and warmer sections of the United States. It is used mostly in perfume. Family: Mimosaceae Extraction: Absolute, concrete. The...
Rudyard Kipling wrote of the “wind-bit thyme that smells like the perfume of the dawn in paradise.” Ancient Greeks complimented each other as “smelling like thymbra”; their word thymain meant “to burn as incense,”...
Originally from the Middle East and northeast African, Myrrh has been an important trade item for more than a thousand years. Myrrh still has many medicinal, cosmetic, and emotional benefits.
The Biblical Queen Esther changed her name to Hadassah, after the Hebrew word hadas, for “myrtle.” This small, attractive North African tree now makes itself at home throughout the Mediterranean, and was a favorite in the ancient gardens...
This lichen (a combination of a fungus and algae), which hangs from trees like Spanish moss, was found in Egyptian royal tombs. It is a fixative in chypre-type perfumes (named after Cyprus, the home of this moss) and was a popular 16th-century...
