Spanish Verbena Oil

#### Verbena Oil, Spanish, so-called. ##### Spanish Verbena oil: Odorwise somewhat similar to the true verbena oil (see previous monograph) is the essential oil steam distilled from the dried herb of **Thymus Hiemalis**, a perennial which grows wild in Spain, Portugal, Italy and North Africa. Irregular lots of this oil are produced in Spain, and the oil is sold under the name of **Verbena**** ****Oil,**** ****Spanish**. This oil is also related to the oil from wild-growing Spanish **Lemon-Thyme**. The latter is rarely seen on the perfumery market. Spanish verbena oil is a yellow liquid of a powerful and fresh lemonlike, herbaceous odor with a rich and sweet, somewhat sage-like undertone. It has the freshness of lemon- grass oil, and the herbaceous-sweet undertone of e.g. sage clary, yet without the delicate tea- notes of this oil. Overall, the Spanish verbena oil is a rough or crude version of the true verbena oil which is very rarely produced and sold in its natural shape. Spanish verbena oil is produced only on a very modest scale, but when available it could be used in colognes, chypres, after-shave lotion perfumes, etc. since it blends well with all citrus oils, methylionones, isosafrole, lavender, geraniol, eugenol, petitgrain oil, etc. Like most other citral bearing oils, it needs good fixation which can be obtained by benzoin, olibanum, labdanum, elemi, oakmoss products, guaiacwood oil, araucaria oil, bruyère absolute, etc. Lemongrass oil, litsea cubeba, eucalyptus staigeriana, synthetic citral and other inexpensive sources of citral have greatly contributed to the lack of interest in Spanish verbena oil, and it is quite possible that this oil may disappear from the perfumery market in the very near future.