I'm going to leave this one up 'open' and I'll add to it whenever I find more information. Eventually I'll have the tags up on one side of the blog and you can track it anytime by clicking on "aliases". - LAST UPDATED 09/01/10 -

There's an ongoing "huh?" with perfumery when it comes to things masquerading as other things. Some single notes/absolutes have more than one name they're known by.

For example, Frankincense is often also called Olibanum. However, there is a difference that this link explains: http://www.somaluna.com/category_frankincense.asp So basically they're all from the Boswellia genus, but Olibanum is specifically Boswellia serrata and smells lemony. All the other Boswellia are Frankincense and smell more like oranges.

Please also note, some of these references are specific for perfumery, not herbalism. For example, Mugwort is chemically a bit different than Wormwood, being very similar in scent and related by family, but these terms are used interchangeably in perfumery. Or, in the case of Comfrey, where it also claims at times to be “Boneset”, despite there being an actual, quite different plant called Boneset. If you are working with herbs and oils for medicinal purposes, USE A GOOD HERBAL and check all your references before making the substitutions. Comparing and matching actual Latin names of plants precisely is the key to good health.

So, here's the basic list that will grow:

THE FIRST HALF OF THE LIST( Read more... )

FOR A WONDERFUL PERFUME GLOSSARY go to Perfume Intelligence Encyclopaedia at:

http://www.perfumeintelligence.co.uk/

(There are a few errors in that database, but it’s huge, with links!)

I have also found some things simply don't "exist" in a few cases.

* There does not appear to be a true "Black Plum", but you'll find instructions on the internet to mix Black Cherry with Plum. If you discover differently, I'd love to know!

* "Amber" is made of Labdanum, Benzoin, and Vanilla. I'm guessing "Black Amber", "White Amber", etc. are differing ratios of those three combinants. Amber does not come from either the amber resin that captures bugs and is occasionally found in the ocean, nor is it a wood.

* "Liquidamber"/"Liquidambar" is NOTHING like what we think of as "Amber". It is a plant from a different genus, Liquidamber orientalis, and this smells more like musk and ambergris; there's a harsh, animalistic note to it. There's an American version of this [Liquidamber styraciflua] that reeks, by the way--it smells strongly of hydrocarbons/gasoline. You likely want to avoid the American version at all costs.

* "Leather": There are several official "leathers": English, Spanish, and Russian. I haven't come across the recipe for English leather yet, but Spanish leather has a grocery list of florals and spices, and Russian is mostly white birch tar. There is NO SUCH THING as "single note leather". Leathers are actually 'blends' of non-leather oils that have been soaked into leather for a period of time, but will also be referred to as 'a leather note' or 'a leather type'.

Thanks also to foxfirefey for links to http://scentscribbles.com/notes/Alternative_note_terms, from which I have borrowed a few terms.

This list represents what books I’ve amassed and am working with in my perfumery and aromatherapy work. I tend to go clean out all the used bookstores on a regular basis, have been ordering off of Amazon, and special order others. I highly recommend people like Julia Lawless, Mandy Aftel, and Jeanne Rose to you, but this list only represents what I have in my Stillroom. This is not an all-and-everything list.

I used a five-star rating system; the more stars, the better.

I expect it to keep growing, so you might want to come back here regularly to see what’s been added. Originally I was going to put links to all these books on Amazon.com for you to go directly to each book, but I figure if you’re that interested in a book, you can look them up on your own. I have. - Grey

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