Labdanum resinoid

Dense amber, warm resin, leather. Old wood, dried plum and a slight animalic tone. A very tenacious, faintly smoky base.

Labdanum and other Cistus ladanifer extracts have no dedicated standard in the 51st Amendment of the IFRA Standards and are not named in the EU fragrance allergen list.

α-Pinene, present in the volatile fraction, is on the EU allergen list under Regulation 2023/1545. It must be labelled above 0.001 percent in leave-on or 0.01 percent in rinse-off products.

Store dark, sealed and cool.

Cistus ladanifer is a shrub of the western Mediterranean, common in Andalusia in Spain, in Portugal and in Morocco. Its leaves and young twigs exude a sticky resin in the hot season. This resin is the source of labdanum.

The Greek historian Herodotus described resin being gathered from the beards of goats in Arabia. On Crete, a rake of leather thongs was once drawn through cistus bushes to collect it. Today the resin is obtained industrially.

In the process common in Spain, the leafy twigs are boiled in alkaline water. The resin separates, is then acidified and collected as labdanum gum. The resinoid is made by extracting this gum with a solvent such as ethanol or a hydrocarbon and removing the solvent. The absolute and concrete are made directly from the twigs, and cistus oil is steam-distilled.

Most of the gum is non-volatile labdane diterpenes, which give very high tenacity. The volatile fraction contains α-pinene and several compounds that smell strongly at low levels, such as 2,2,6-trimethylcyclohexanone and acetophenone.

In perfumery, labdanum resinoid is a backbone of amber accords, often paired with vanilla or benzoin. It also appears in classical chypres with oakmoss and bergamot, and in leather accords.

The library already has pages for labdanum and cistus. This page records the resinoid made from the gum, the densest and most tenacious form in the group.