Laurel EO

Latin name :

Laurus nobilis

Botanical profile :

Laurel is a shrub belonging to the Lauraceae family and the genus Laurus.

Geographic origin :

Native to Asia Minor, the plant is mainly cultivated around the Mediterranean sea, particularly in Spain, Turkey and Morocco.

Chemotypes :

Only two other species belong to the genus Laurus: Laurus azorica and Laurus canariensis. However, they are not extracted in perfumery.
There are other plants called laurel although they are not part of the genus Laurus : the California laurel, Umbellucaria californica, for example, has a toxic essential oil. The laurel clover, Cryptocaria pretiosa, the oleander, Nerium oleander and the laurel tree, Viburnum tinus, can be mentioned among others.

Extraction process :

The bay is a shrub 3 to 5 meters high, conical or pyramidal. It flowers in spring and early summer, although only the leaves are processed in perfumery. The development of a laurel crop is done by seeds sowing, bringing a great variability in the pace of the plants. To solve this problem, the seeds must be treated by removing their pericarp before they are sown.
The laurel harvests take place in October and November. The leaves are crushed and dried. The nature and the temperature of the drying step has no great importance, as they do not influence the volatilization of the olfactory compounds of this plant. The steam distillation of the leaves gives the essential oil, collected at the end of the process by decantation in a florentine vase. The extraction lasts up to three hours and provides a yield around 1.3%.

Major Components :

Eucalyptol (35-45%)
Linalool (8-15%)
Pinenes (7-11%)
Alpha-Terpineol (2-5%)
Eugenol (≈3%)
Methyl Eugenol (≈3%)