White water lily absolute

Cool aquatic flower, lightly sweet and powdery. A damp green note of stem and leaf. Light, not as dense as tropical white flowers.

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

Listed EU allergens, where present, are counted from the lot's certificate of analysis.

The name lotus is used for several species in different genera. The source species should be confirmed with the supplier. Store dark, sealed and cool.

In the aromatics trade, white lotus usually means a white water lily of the genus Nymphaea, not the sacred lotus Nelumbo. The two main species are Nymphaea lotus, the Egyptian white water lily, and Nymphaea alba, the European white water lily.

Nymphaea lotus grows in tropical Africa, Egypt and South Asia. Its flowers open at night and close in the morning. It appears often in ancient Egyptian art alongside the blue water lily. Nymphaea alba grows in Europe and flowers by day.

The flowers are extracted with a non-polar solvent to give a concrete, which is washed with ethanol, chilled, filtered and freed of alcohol. Output is small.

Published composition data for white water lily absolute are scarce. This page therefore lists no specific constituents. The supplier's certificate of analysis is the only reliable source for each lot.

In perfumery, white water lily absolute gives a light aquatic floral note for green, watery and clear bouquet accords. The library already has pages for the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, and the blue water lily, Nymphaea caerulea. The three differ in species and odour.