Rosemary

What it is

Rosemary is Salvia rosmarinus, the Mediterranean aromatic herb long known botanically as Rosmarinus officinalis. The older name is still common in perfumery and essential-oil catalogues, so both names are useful search references.

The aromatic material is usually associated with the leaves and flowering tops.

What to notice

Rosemary can combine:

• fresh herbal lift
• piney or conifer-like facets
• camphoraceous coolness
• dry woody structure
• culinary greenness
• a slightly medicinal edge

Different cultivars and oils can vary in chemistry and therefore in smell, something Kew also notes in its research on rosemary varieties.

Role in perfumery

Rosemary works naturally beside citrus, lavender, herbs and woods. It is a classic component of aromatic and cologne structures where it adds definition and dryness rather than sweetness.

Rosemary is not simply “herbal”

Many materials can create an herbal impression. The archive should only use a Rosemary material link when the source identifies rosemary or rosemary oil rather than when a fragrance merely smells green or medicinal.