Woodruff Absolute

#### Woodruff Absolute. The small perennial, **Asperula**** ****Odorata **of the botanical family Rubiaceae, grows wild all over Central Europe and Scandinavia. It is known as **"Sweet Woodruff**" (England), "**Waidmeister**" (Germany), "**Asperule**" (France), "**Bukar**" (Sweden) and "**Skovmaerke**" (Denmark). The tiny flowers open up in late April to mid-May before the beech and oak trees cast their deep shadow on the floor of the forest. The woodruff is almost odorless when freshly picked, but the herb develops upon drying a rich, sweet, herbaceous coumarinic fragrance reminiscent of deertongue or melilotus (see these monographs). It is customary to make wreaths of the plant in these countries. The wreaths are pinned to the wall at home or they are kept in a dresser-drawer where the fragrance is slowly released over a period of many months. In Germany, certain wines are flavored with the herb. Similarly to the other coumarin-type herbs and botanicals, the **Woodruff **does not yield an essential oil upon steam distillation. Tinctures have been prepared and they are still used in pharmaceutical preparations in the countries where coumarin is permitted in flavors. By petroleum ether extraction, a concrète is prepared; the concrète yields an absolute after alcohol-washing. **Woodruff Absolute **(or "oleoresin") is very rarely offered from the regular suppliers of perfume raw materials, but it is occasionally prepared by the individual users. The dried herb is available all over Europe. Woodruff absolute (from concrète) is a viscous dark green liquid of a heavy-sweet, herbaceous tobacco-like odor, reminiscent of hay, dry tea leaves, tobacco, melilotus, etc. This product blends excellently with lavender and lavandin concrète and absolute, clary sage concrète, oakmoss products, labdanum products, pine needle oils, cedarwood oils, "tombacco" absolute, isobornyl acetate, nitromusks, cinnamic alcohol, ionones, methyl cinnamate ,etc. for "powdery" notes, fougères, new mown hay bases, chypres, forest notes, lily of the valley (very interesting modifier), etc. Woodruff absolute is obviously very likely to be adulterated with coumarin, lavandin concrète, deertongue extract, etc.