Zdravetz Oil

#### Zdravetz Oil. Much has been written about **Zdravetz**** ****Oil,**** ****Zdravetz**** ****Absolute**** **and **Zdravetz**** ****Concrète**, and the author almost felt like leaving this monograph out of the present work. It appears that there is no production at all of the two latter items, and that the **Zdravetz Oil **is produced only upon demand. The term "concrète" is occasionally applied to the essential oil since this is a solid mass at slightly below room temperature. The plant **Geranium**** ****Macrorrhizum**** **(the last name means "big root") is a small, but very hardy perennial which grows wild on rocky soil at high and medium altitude in the Balkans and southeastern Europe. The oil is distilled in Bulgaria. The name "zdrave" means "health", and the plant is used extensively in these areas as a popular medicinal herb. It is cultivated for this purpose in various countries in Central Europe. The overground parts of the plant are water distilled, but the yield of oil is extremely small, even smaller than the yield of geranium oil from pelargonium plants (see **Geranium Oil).** **Zdravetz Oil **is a pale olive-green or pale yellowish, somewhat viscous liquid from which a considerable amount of large white crystals will separate on standing and on cooling. Most oils are semi-solid at room temperature, and some oils contain paraffin in such amounts that they become entirely solid at room temperature. The paraffin is of no perfumery value, and the author is inclined to believe that larger amounts of paraffin in this oil is not a natural occurrence. The crystals are, however, of a certain perfumery value. Although virtually odorless, they are useful for their excellent fixative effect (compare **Sclareol **in clary sage absolute) and the crystals seem to be necessary for the perfect balancing of the peculiar odor of this oil. The odor of zdravetz oil is sweet-woody with a floral and faintly herbaceous undertone, reminiscent of clary sage, tobacco, broom absolute (fruity notes), tea leaves and ulex europaeus. The floral notes are of rosy-woody character, delicate and tenacious. The odor does not strike one with power, but the effect of zdravetz oil in a perfume is often perceptible at concentrations around one percent. Only the irregular availability and the immediate impression of weakness could be reasons for the apparent lack of interest in this oil among perfumers. The oil has an excellent fixative effect which can be utilized in fougères, chypres, crepe de Chines, Oriental bases, colognes and fantasy fragrances. It blends excellently with oakmoss, labdanum, olibanum, sandalwood, sage clary absolute, lavender or lavandin, bergamot, etc. Quantities of 50 or 100 kilos can be produced upon demand with due notice, but the oil is rarely offered in sizeable lots on the perfume market.