Tuberose concrete

Dense white flower, cream, mushroom, coconut, a touch of rubber and camphor. Sweet and fatty; a light green top, a waxy slightly leathery drydown. Less diffusive than the absolute.

Tuberose has no dedicated standard in the IFRA 51 index and is not named in the allergen list of EU Regulation 2023/1545.

Constituents such as benzyl benzoate, benzyl salicylate, methyl salicylate, eugenol and geraniol are EU-labelled allergens above threshold. Benzyl benzoate and benzyl salicylate are IFRA-restricted (2020); eugenol is IFRA-restricted (2023).

Concrete is waxy and needs gentle warming. Store sealed, dark and cool.

Tuberose here is Polianthes tuberosa, a bulbous plant native to Mexico. The name comes from the Latin adjective tuberosa, meaning tuberous, and has nothing to do with roses. It is widely grown in India, both for cut flowers and for extraction.

Grasse was once the centre of tuberose production for perfumery, and from the nineteenth century the flowers were processed by cold enfleurage. Today India is the main source of concrete, grown in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Egypt also produces.

The flowers keep emitting scent after picking. Concrete is made by soaking fresh flowers in a non-polar solvent, recovering the solvent and leaving a waxy mass. Yield is very low, so tuberose concrete and absolute are among the costly materials.

Tuberose odour combines aromatic esters such as methyl benzoate and benzyl benzoate, methyl anthranilate, methyl salicylate and lactones such as jasmine lactone. The lactones carry the typical creamy, coconut character. Composition varies with region, cultivar and flower opening.

Tuberose concrete is used directly in Indian attars and solid perfumes. Most is turned into absolute for alcohol-based perfume. In perfumery it anchors dense white floral structures.