Rosewood oil’s subtle smell is soft, sweet, and spicy, with fresh floral notes. It is reminiscent of rose, citrus, and wood. This colourless or pale-yellow oil is distilled from the heartwood of the evergreen rosewood tree, Aniba roseaodora. Reaching heights of 125 feet, this member of the Lauraceae family has reddish bark and yellow flowers. It is native to the tropical areas around the Amazon river.
Rosewood trees grow and are harvested in the rain forests of South America. During the yearly flood season, huge rosewood tree trunks float downstream headed for the distilleries. Peru and Brazil supply most of the world’s rosewood oil. So that the harvesting of rosewood trees does not lead to their extinction or to deforestation of ecologically sensitive areas, Brazilian legislation now requires that one new tree be planted for each one cut down.
The original site of production of bois de rose, as the French called rosewood, was French Guiana, on the northern coast of South America. So great was the demand among the French for rosewood oil, which was used to create lily of the valley and lilac type fragrance, that the French depleted the colony’s rosewood forests. Carvings and chopsticks were commonly made from rosewood; the rose-scented heartwood was frequently used in cabinetmaking and to make handles for cutlery and hairbrushes. As an aphrodisiac, rosewood oil reputedly could restore a lost or diminished sex drive and overcome frigidity and impotence.