fruit / herbaceous note
Rhubarb
A crisp, tart, green-fruity note with a distinctly vegetal freshness, often used to bring acidity, brightness and a mouthwatering edge to fragrance compositions.
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What it is
Rhubarb is a perennial plant in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae. Kew accepts Rheum rhabarbarum as a species native from southern Siberia through northern and central China.
In fragrance cataloguing, rhubarb is best treated as an olfactory note or accord unless a source identifies a more specific material. That keeps the archive faithful to how perfume and incense makers actually describe it rather than implying a particular extraction method.
What to notice
Rhubarb commonly brings a combination of:
- crisp tartness
- green, herbaceous freshness
- juicy fruity acidity
- a slightly vegetal edge
- brightness that can sharpen sweeter materials
How it appears in fragrance
The Aroma Book links this material only when a source explicitly lists rhubarb. Current source-backed examples include Heeley Verveine d’Eugène and Shoyeido Kyozakura / Cherry Blossoms.
When a manufacturer instead specifies a rhubarb accord, that wording should be preserved rather than silently converted into a claim for rhubarb as a raw material.
Rhubarb note and rhubarb accord
Sources do not always use the same terminology. Some list simply rhubarb, while others specify a rhubarb accord. The Aroma Book preserves that distinction when the manufacturer provides it.
REFERENCE SOURCES
Kew Science · Rheum rhabarbarum↗