Family: Agavaceae

Extraction: In the past, enfleurage of flower. (The absolute d’enfleurage has a fatty note due to small residues of lard.) The solvent-extracted oil has a slightly “green” scent. Concrete. Absolute. The odor is floral, very sweet and honeylike, with a hint of camphor. Sometimes the oil is made from the slightly less odorous double-petaled garden flower.

Emotional Attribute: The fragrance is sensual and aphrodisiac. Its East Indian name, rat ki rani, means “mistress of the night.”

Family: Orchidaceae

Extraction: Resinoid, absolute, oleoresin, CO2. The scent is sweet, “creamy” and typically vanilla.

Emotional Attribute: Vanilla’s fragrance improves one’s confidence and helps to dissolve pent-up anger and frustration. It is consoling and can unleash hidden, often subconscious, sensuality.

Extraction: Distilled from herb and flowers. The odor is green, herbaceous and sharp.

Medicinal Action: Yarrow treats digestive and muscular cramps, hemorrhoids, menstrual irregularity and urinary infections.

Cosmetic/Skin Use: Helps heal rashes and wounds, acne, eczema, inflammation, varicose veins, and wounds. It is also used as a hair tonic.

Emotional Attribute: Yarrow instills a sense of security and assists long-range planning.

Family: Annonaceae

Extraction: Distilled from flowers. The intensely sweet odor is heady (described by some as bananalike) and floral. Absolute, concrete.

Medicinal Action: A strong sedative, ylang-ylang is antispasmodic and helps lower blood pressure.

Cosmetic/Skin Use: Used as a hair tonic and to balance oil production in all skin types, although most often recommended for oily and problem skin.

Emotional Attribute: The fragrance makes the senses more acute and tempers depression, fear, jealousy, anger and frustration. It is aphrodisiac in low doses.
Considerations: High concentrations can produce headaches or nausea.

Associated Oils:

Champac (Michelia champaca) –From Indonesia and India, this heady scent is quite expensive, so it is sometimes adulterated with ylang-ylang. It has long been extracted into vegetable oil. Today it is mostly cultivated in the Philippines and is available as a concrete and absolute.
Cananga (type macrophylla)-Rich in terpenes and low in esters, this oil has an inferior scent.

Family: Apiaceae (Umbelliferae)

Extraction: Distilled from root or seed. Absolute. The root oil is stronger and slightly more expensive, and it smells earthy/herbal; the seed oil is spicy/peppery.

Medicinal Action: Angelica regulates menstruation, is a digestive tonic and stops coughing.

Emotional Attribute: The fragrance relieves depression (especially nerve-related) and provides a new outlook on problems.

Considerations: Use angelica very carefully: it can overstimulate the nervous system, and the root oil contains photosensitizing bergaptene.

For more Essential Oils visit the Aromatherapy Materia Medica

Family: Mimosaceae

Extraction: Absolute, concrete. The scent resembles straw or beeswax, with slightly bitter undertones.

Emotional Attribute: Mimosa’s scent is relaxing and helps overcome anxiety, oversensitivity, stress, and nervous tension.

Associated Oil:

Cassie (A. farnesiana) –This leguminous American plant is grown primarily in North Africa, and to a lesser degree in France. Also called “sweet acacia,” it is similar to mimosa. Used in Oriental-style perfumes, it also treats depression, nervous exhaustion, stress and frigidity. Don’t confuse cassie with the cassia related to cinnamon.

Medicinal Action: Myrrh improves digestion, diarrhea and immunity. It treats coughs, gum disease, wounds, candida, overactive thyroid and scanty menstruation.

Cosmetic/Skin Use: Myrrh is an expensive treatment for chapped, cracked or aged skin, eczema, bruises, infection, varicose veins and ringworm.

Emotional Attribute: Myrrh has been used since antiquity to inspire prayer and meditation, and to fortify and revitalize the spirit.

Associated Oils:

Opopanax (Illicium verum) –This oil from Somalia and Ethiopia is sold as a low-grade myrrh. Lumps that exude from the root and stems are steam-distilled after hardening. Opopanax gives liquor a winelike taste and is a fixative. The herb that bears the name Opopanax chironium is a Sudanese and Arabian plant similar to parsnips, and isn’t made into oil. To add to the confusion, cassie (Acacia farnesiana) is sometimes called “opopanax.”

Copaiba Balsam (Copaiba officinalis) –This South American oleoresin (not really a balsam), called copal, is similar to myrrh. In Central and South America, where it has been used for centuries as incense, the Catholic church uses it in place of myrrh, and herb vendors sell it in almost every market.

Associated Oils:

Bitter Orange (C. aurantium var. amara) –Pressed from the peel, bitter orange oil has similar properties to sweet orange. Photosensitizing.

Grapefruit (C. x paradisi) –The oil from the peel encourages weight loss and gallbladder activity, and is noted for its cleansing action. It is a favorite of children, and we find it useful for inner-child work. It often accents bergamot.

Lime (C. aurantiifolia) –Native to India and Southeast Asia, this is the most tender citrus tree. Unlike other citruses, the peel can be steam-distilled as well as pressed. Lime flavors cola beverages and is used in the treatment of depression.

Tangerine or Mandarin (C. reticulata) –From the peel of mandarin orange, this oil counters insomnia, lymph congestion, fat reduction and digestive problems. It is a safer citrus oil for children and pregnant women.

Family: Rutaceae

Extraction: Distilled from blossoms. Concrete, absolute. The fragrance is sweet, spicy and distinctive.

Medicinal Action: Neroli treats diarrhea and circulation problems such as hemorrhoids and high blood pressure.

Cosmetic/Skin Use: Used on mature and couperose skin to regenerate the cells.

Emotional Attribute: One of the best aromatic antidepressives, neroli counters emotional shock, mental confusion, nervous strain, anxiety, fear and lack of confidence. It redirects one’s energy into a more positive direction, countering both fatigue and insomnia. It is used for those who get upset for no apparent reason. Also an aphrodisiac.

Associated Oils:

Petitgrain (C. aurantium) –Now distilled from the fragrant leaves and stems of the bitter orange, this oil originally came from the small, unripe fruit (thus its name, “little fruit”). The fragrance resembles neroli, but is harsher and sharper. It is less expensive and potent, but often effective enough as an antidepressant. Petitgrain increases perception and awareness and reestablishes trust and self-confidence. Most of the oil comes from Paraguay, where the 19th-century French botanist Benjamin Balansa first distilled the leaves.

Neroli Portugal (C. aurantium var. dulcis) –The flowers of this sweeter orange produce a less fragrant oil, also called neroli petalea, considered inferior to var. amara.

Family: Lamiaceae (Labiatae)

Extraction: Distilled from fermented leaves. The fragrance is heavy, earthy, woody, musty, vanilla-like and most distinctive. Resinoid.

Medicinal Action: It helps reduce appetite, water retention, exhaustion and inflammation.

Cosmetic/Skin Use: As a cell rejuvenator and antiseptic, the oil treats acne, eczema, inflamed, cracked or mature skin, and dandruff. As an antifungal, it treats athlete’s foot.

Emotional Attribute: Patchouli counters nervousness and depression by putting problems into perspective and releasing pent-up emotions. Though an aphrodisiac, it helps insomnia.