Madonna lily absolute

Sweet white flower, powdery and slightly waxy. Light honey and a faint spice. Fresher than tuberose, with little animalic depth.

Madonna lily absolute has no dedicated standard in the 51st Amendment of the IFRA Standards and is not named in the EU fragrance allergen list.

The material is almost no longer produced. Most products labelled lily are reconstructions. The nature of each lot should be confirmed with the supplier.

Store dark, sealed and cool.

Lilium candidum is a white lily native to the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Its trumpet flowers open in early summer and carry a clear sweet scent. It is among the longest cultivated flowers in Europe.

Lily absolute was once produced in very small amounts in France, first by enfleurage and later by solvent extraction. Low yield and high cost almost ended production. A stable commercial source is hard to find today.

The scent of Lilium varies strongly by species and cultivar. Published composition data for Lilium candidum absolute are scarce. This page therefore lists no specific constituents.

In perfumery, the lily note is usually reconstructed from many materials such as linalool, hydroxycitronellal substitutes, phenylethyl alcohol and materials that add a light spice. Many reconstructions called lily aim at other species such as Lilium longiflorum or Oriental hybrids.

This page records Madonna lily absolute as a historical material. It should not be confused with lily of the valley, Convallaria majalis, a plant of another family with no commercial extract.