Hyacinth
Sweet, dewy spring flowers with green stems, a cool earthiness, and a slightly spicy edge.
You may know it from a pot of blooming hyacinths
Where it comes from
Recreated from aroma chemicals because hyacinth flowers yield little usable perfume extract.
Botanical name: Hyacinthus
Worth knowing
Usually an accord, not oil distilled from hyacinth flowers.
About hyacinth
Hyacinthus is a genus of bulbous, spring-blooming perennials in the asparagus family, and the garden hyacinth is H. orientalis. The wild plant comes from the eastern Mediterranean, from southern Turkey toward the Levant. The Netherlands became the main commercial grower, and in the 18th century more than 2,000 cultivars were grown there. The bulbs contain oxalic acid and can mildly irritate skin, so gloves are advised when handling them.
Phenylacetaldehyde makes up only about 1% of the flower's scent. Even so, it is the molecule a perfumer reads as hyacinth, because its detection threshold is so low. One perfumer-run blog says that if you smell the stuff, it just shouts hyacinth at you.
The same blog states that no real hyacinth material is on offer anywhere today. A glossary entry describes an absolute that is solvent-extracted, since heat would destroy the phenylacetaldehyde and other fragile aldehydes, and says the Netherlands, around Haarlem and Lisse, produces roughly 90% of it. Two sources give very different yields for that absolute, about a tonne of petals per kilogram in one and about 6,000 kg of flowers per litre in the other.
Perfumers build the note instead. The common ingredients named in these sources are phenylacetaldehyde or its dimethyl acetal, which supplies a green, honeyed top, along with phenethyl alcohol, cinnamic alcohol, benzyl salicylate, eugenol, terpineol and cis-3-hexenol. Both sources say synthetic reconstructions dominate modern formulations.
The Black Narcissus describes Guerlain's Chamade, launched in 1969 and created by Jean-Paul Guerlain, as an emotion-filled, rich-bodied hyacinth accord.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Hyacinth in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Hyacinth most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Hyacinth
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Hyacinth.