Cedarleaf Oil

#### Cedarleaf Oil. **Cedarleaf Oil**, which is also known commercially under the name of **Thuja Oil**, is actually not distilled from the most well known cedar. Its name is thus somewhat confusing. The American Cedarleaf Oil is distilled almost exclusively from the leaves and twigs of Thuja Occidentalis, in the U.S.A. called Eastern or Northern White Cedar. Leaves and twigs of Juniperus Virginiana are occasionally admixed to the above material prior to the steam distillation of cedarleaf oil (see **Cedarwood Oil, **Virginia). The white cedar is botanically related to the cypress and it grows abundantly in the northeastern States of the U.S.A. and in eastern Canada. The essential oil is distilled mainly in New York State, in Vermont and in the Quebec province of Canada. Leaves and twigs are collected and distilled in the growing areas. Canadian oil is derived exclusively from white cedar. Cedarleaf oil (thuja oil) is a colorless to pale greenish-yellow, mobile oil of an intensely sharp, but quite fresh, camphoraceous odor. It bears great resemblance to the flowering tansy herb, artemisia herb, dalmatian sage herb, etc. with a sweet undertone reminiscent of bitter fennel. The annual production of **Cedarleaf Oil **is quite substantial and the interest in this oil has not decreased lately. It is a low-cost and powerful perfume ingredient for room-sprays, disinfectants, insecticides, paints, household and industrial cleansers, etc. It's green, sweet-herbaceous, although medicinal and camphoraceous-minty note blends well with pine needle oils, citrus oils, lavandin and rosemary in chypre or fougère bases. The oil has even been used as a "piquant" topnote in high- class perfumes. The chief constituent, **Thujone**, is a ketone which is considered skin-irritant and poisonous to a certain degree. At the normal use-level of cedarleaf oil in perfumes, however, it seems inconceivable that the oil could be responsible for any harmful effects. Apart from occasional adulteration with pine oil fractions or turpentine fractions, **Cedarleaf**** ****Oil**** **is rarely adulterated. The oil serves, on the other hand, as an adulterant for tansy oil, artemisia oil and dalmatian sage oil. See these monographs. See also **Thuja Plicata Oil**.