Best perfume: Aromatics sources from plant

Plants have long been used in perfumery as a source of essential oils and aroma compounds. These aromatics are usually secondary metabolites produced by plants as protection against herbivores, infections, as well as to attract pollinators. Plants are by far the largest source of fragnant compounds used in perfumery. The sources of these compounds may be derived from various parts of a plant. A plant can offer more than one source of aromatics, for instance the aerial portions and seeds of coriander have remarkably different odors from each other. Orange leaves, blossoms, and fruit zest are the respective sources of petit grain, neroli, and orange oils.

- Bark: Commonly used barks include cinnamon and cascarilla. The fragnant oil in sassafras root bark is also used either directly or purified for its main constituent, safrole, which is used in the synthesis of other fragnant compounds such as helional.

- Flowers and blossoms: Undoubtedly the largest source of aromatics. Include the flowers of several species of rose and jasmine, as well as osmanthus, mimosa, tuberose, as well as the blossoms of citur and ylang -ylang trees. Although not tradisionally thought of as flower, the unopened flower buds of the clove are also commonly used. Orchid flowers are not commercially used, which must be pollinated first and made into seed pods before use in perfumery.

- Fruits: Fresh fruits such as apples, strawberries, cherries unfortunately do not yield the expected odors when extracted; if such fragnance notes are found in perfume, they are synthetic. Notable exceptions include litsea cubeba, vanilla, and juniper berry. The most commonly used fruits yield their aromatics from rind; they include citrus such as oranges, lemons, and limes. Although grapefruit rind is still used for aromatics, more and more commercially used grapefruit aromatics are artificially synthesized since the natural aromatic contains sulfur and its degradation product is quite unpleasant in smell.

- Leaves and twigs: Commonly used for perfumery are lavender leaf, patchouli, sage, violets, rosemary, and citrus leaves. Sometimes leaves are valued for the "green" smell they bring to perfumes, examples of this include hay and tomato leaf.

- Resins: Valued since antiquity, resins have been widely used in incense and perfumery. Highly fragnant and antiseptic resins and resin-containing perfumes have been used by many cultures as medicines for large variety of ailments. Commonly used resins in perfumery include labdanum, frankincense/olibanum, myrrh, Peru balsam, gum benzoin. Pine and fir resins are particularly valued source of terpenes used in the organic synthesis of many other synthetic or naturally occuring aromatic compounds. Some of what is called amber and copal in perfumery today is the resinous secretion of fossil conifers.

- Roots, rhizomes and bulbs: Commonly used terrestrial portions in perfumery include iris rhizomes, vetiver roots, various rhizomes of ginger family.

- Seeds: Commonly used seeds include tonka bean, coriander, caraway, cocoa, nutmeg, mace, cardamon, and anise.

- Woods: Highly important in providing the base notes to a perfume, wood oils and distillates are indispensable in perfumery. Commonly used woods include sandalwood, rosewood, agarwood, birch, cedar, juniper, and pine. These are used in the form of macerations or drydistilled (rectified) forms.