The plate: tonka
Planche IX · Fève tonkaDrawn as what it smells like: tonka.

Ingredients · Sweet · dry-down

Coumarin

Say itKOO-muh-rin

Sweet new-mown hay, almond and tobacco with warm vanillic softness.

What it is
A molecule made in a lab, first made by William Henry Perkin (first synthesis) in 1868.
Where it comes from
natural in tonka, hay and cassia; mostly synthetic
When you smell it
Dry-down: hours later.
What perfumers do with it
Heart of fougères and orientals; sweetens lavender and gives hay-tobacco warmth.
Worth knowing
Named after coumarou, French for the tonka bean; the US banned it as a food additive in 1954.
Known in
Fougère Royale (Houbigant, 1882); Jicky (Guerlain, 1889)
Rules
Limited. IFRA use limits (skin sensitiser); EU label-declared allergen.
Also called
2H-Chromen-2-one; tonka camphor

On the label of 135 of the 232 perfumes read so far