Floral notes – Rose 

Speaking of perfumes, the scent of flowers is an element that must not be forgotten.
In the world of perfuming, it is called “floral note”. “Floral” means “flower”, but the term “note” may be somewhat surprising. Of course, it is different from the meaning of “notebook”. In fact, the term “note” also means “the tone of a musical instrument, musical notes, keys of a piano, etc.
“Perfuming “is a kind of composing a music tune. The harmony of scents is a perfume, and the “flower scents” that echo in the perfume are “floral notes”. 

Various “… notes” appear in the perfumer, and among them, the “citrus note” is as important as the “floral note”. This is a “citrus scent”. “Citrus note” is used for both men and women, but “floral note” is a scent that brings out femininity in particular. 
Isn’t it nice to express a scent like a sound? Now, this time, we will explore this “floral note”. 

Floral note 1: Rose

There are many types of floral notes, but the first one that comes to mind is the scent of roses.
The most basic “floral note” used in perfumes for women is the scent of roses. In natural perfumes, this “rose scent” is taken from the rose flowers. The flowers are soaked in a solvent to extract aromatic molecules (scent components). 
Therefore, “rose scent” actually contains various scents. Because there are many kinds of roses.
So let’s take a look at the history and types of roses. 

So-called roses (horticultural roses) are plants of the Rosaceae genus.
 Although it has a Western image, it is thought that the place of origin is actually around Tibet and from Yunnan Province in China to Myanmar. As will be described later, it was transmitted from these areas to Europe via the Middle East. The varieties that had traveled to China were again transmitted to Western Europe by another route.　It is said that the roses were first introduced to Western Europe around the 11th century.
It was brought by the Crusaders sent by the Christian nations of Western Europe to recapture the sanctuary of Jerusalem. This type of rose had been widespread in the Damascus region (Syria) and was named “Damask Rose (Rosa Damascena)” for this reason. 

Damask rose has a lustrous appearance and has attracted attention as a flower. In addition, the scent is characteristically sweet and rich. Therefore, this type of roses was also explored for fragrance. 
The sweet and rich scent of damask rose was great. However, the strong sweetness tends to be monotonous. 

In this situation appeared oriental roses, which were also known by their tea-like and spicy scent.
 They were brought from the East to Western Europe in the time from the Age of Discovery to the 19th century.
They include roses having a term  “Teesented” in their names such as “Hume’s Blush Teascented China”. “Tea sent” means “smelling like tea”. This suggests that the scent was the focus of attention. Also, “China” indicates that these roses are from the Orient. 

The rose of the photo below is one of such tea roses. It has a name “Parks Yellow Tea Scented China”. 

Roughly speaking, roses include damask roses, tea-scented oriental roses and combinations thereof.
The scent of roses as a floral note also has various personalities depending on the type of roses.
 We will explain the scent of roses in detail later, but to put it simply, it contains the following substances. 

2-Phenylethanol, geraniol, nerol, citronellol, phenylethyl acetate, geranyl acetate, eugenol, 3-hexene-1-ol, 3,5-dimethoxytoluene and so on. 
In connection with the explanation so far, 2-phenylethanol, geraniol, nerol, and citronellol are closely related to damask roses. Phenylethyl acetate and geranyl acetate have a fruity scent, and eugenol has a spicy scent.
3-Hexene-1-ol is also called green leaf alcohol and is a component that is abundant in tea leaves. 3-Hexene-1-ol and 3,5-dimethoxytoluene is combined with other ingredients to create a black tea-like scent. 

Geraniol was initially discovered in geranium and named after it. Several pharmacological actions are known, and in the world of aromatherapy, it is a component that is touted as having a relationship with female hormones. 
Since floral notes are derived from plants, we might expect that they have plant-derived effects. 

An article on Floral notes – Jasmin is here;

Flower scent “floral note” jasmine

Jasmine is also an important component of floral notes. Many people think of jasmine tea when they think of it. For those people, it may seem strange that jasmine is one of the floral notes. This is because floral notes have a floral scent. 
However, in fact, jasmine does not have a scent on the leaves, but on the flowers.