Walk through a Cistus scrub in Andalusia or Crete on a July afternoon and the air is thick with it: a warm, resinous, honey-and-leather smell coming off the sticky leaves. That is labdanum, the resin that has done more to define “amber” in perfumery than any other material.
Source
Labdanum comes from Cistus ladanifer (the gum rock rose, Iberia and Morocco) and Cistus creticus (Crete, Greece, the eastern Mediterranean). Both are low shrubs with large white or pink papery flowers, and in hot weather they coat their leaves and stems with a sticky resin that reduces water loss. The resin is the plant’s sunscreen, and humans have been scraping it off since at least classical antiquity.
Harvest, then and now
The old methods are famous because they are strange. Herodotus describes labdanum combed from the beards of goats that browsed the bushes. Later, harvesters dragged a ladanisterion, a rake strung with leather thongs, through the shrubs and scraped the accumulated resin off the leather. Both methods survived into the twentieth century on Crete.
Modern production, mainly in Spain, cuts the leafy twigs and boils them in water with sodium carbonate; the resin floats and is skimmed. This “labdanum gum” is dark, sticky and strongly scented. It is further processed into resinoid, absolute and, by steam distillation of the twigs, cistus essential oil, which is a different, greener material.
Scent
Labdanum is a smell with weight. Warm, leathery, ambery, sweet in a honeyed rather than sugary way, animalic in the manner of civet or ambergris without being fecal, with a dry herbal, slightly balsamic edge. The absolute is smoother and sweeter; the raw gum rougher and more herbal. On the heater it is heavy, resinous and rich, and a little goes far.
The chemistry behind it: labdane diterpenes (the family is named after the resin), including labdanolic acid and ambrox precursors. Ambrox, the synthetic that replaced ambergris, is made from a labdanum constituent, sclareol’s cousin, and the two materials share a dry, warm, mineral character.
The amber accord
Perfumery “amber” is a construction, not a material, and labdanum is its foundation. The classic accord is labdanum plus benzoin plus vanilla: labdanum for leathery, animalic warmth, benzoin for balsamic sweetness, vanilla for creaminess. Styrax, tolu or opoponax can add darkness. Almost every “oriental” fragrance since Guerlain’s Shalimar has a version of it in the base. See How to build an amber accord.
In incense
Labdanum was one of the great incense resins of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, and one of the candidates for the biblical onycha or the “stacte” of the Temple incense. Burned, it is heavy, sweet and animalic, with a lot of smoke. It suits blends with frankincense, myrrh and benzoin; it is too dense to burn alone in a small room.
Buying and handling
Labdanum gum is sold as a dark, semi-solid mass in jars or tubs. It is sticky at room temperature and unmanageable on a hot day; chill it before cutting. Absolute is easier to use for perfumery. Keep it sealed: it will scent everything nearby. For care see How to store resins.
Frequently asked questions
What does labdanum smell like?
Warm, leathery, ambery and slightly animalic, with a resinous, honeyed sweetness and a dry, herbal edge from the plant. It is the smell most people mean by 'amber' in perfume.
Is labdanum the same as amber?
Labdanum is the main ingredient of the perfumery amber accord, usually with benzoin and vanilla. It is not fossil amber, which has almost no scent.
How is labdanum collected?
Historically by combing it from goats' beards after they grazed the shrubs, or by dragging leather thongs through the bushes in summer heat. Today the twigs are cut and boiled in water with alkali to release the resin, or extracted with solvents.
Sources & further reading
- labdanum
- cistus
- amber
- perfumery
