Jonquil Absolute

#### Jonquil Absolute. A very scarce and, partly for that reason, very rarely used perfume material is the flower absolute from the **Narcissus**** ****Joniquilla**. This very fragrant narcissus species probably originated in Asia Minor, and it is cultivated in the Grasse region of southern France and in Morocco for the purpose of extracting perfume oil. The latter area seems likely to become the center of production very soon. The flowers are extracted with petroleum ether to yield a concrète which in turn is processed to an absolute. Annual production has been as high as 100 kilos, but is presently only a fraction of this figure. In Morocco, the bulk of the flowers are processed into a concrète, while in France, the local flowers are either processed into concrète and absolute, or they are treated with hot oil (digestion) or with cold fat (enfleurage to produce a pommade). These products are further washed to yield alcohol-soluble products (see **Infusion **and **Pommade **in Part One of this book). The enfleurage yields a lighter-colored product, but it is worthwhile mentioning that the yield is poor as distinguished from jasmin and tuberose, where the flowers actually continue to produce perfume oil even while they are dying on the grease-plates (the "châssis"). Most of the jonquil absolutes available today are prepared by the simple and economical two-step extraction via the concrète. **Jonquil Absolute from Concrète **is a viscous, dark brown or dark orange to olive-brown liquid of heavy, honeylike, deep-sweet floral odor with a strong green undertone and a somewhat bitter, very tenacious dryout note. The odor bears great similarity to the fragrance of longoza and tuberose, and a remote resemblance to hyacinth. Jonquil absolute blends excellently with jasmin, violet leaf absolute, orange flower absolute, longoza, ylang-ylang and other heavy florals, or with powerful green-floral absolutes. Hydroxycitronellal, isoeugenol, cyclamal, linalyl acetate, cinnamic alcohol, rhodinol, methyl para-toluate, undecanolide, phenylethyl phenyl acetate, amyl phenyl acetate, n-propenyl methyl anthranilate, tolyl acetate, methyl benzoate, heliotropyl acetone, alpha ion- one, etc., are examples of synthetic materials which are frequently used in artificial reproductions of the jonquil fragrance. On account of its high cost and scarcity, Jonquil Absolute is frequently adulterated, e.g. with narcissus absolute, ylang-ylang absolute, benzoin Siam "resin absolute", longoza absolute, Peru balsam oil, everlasting absolute or helichrysum oil, vanilla absolute, etc. and various synthetic materials.