Oakmoss absolute

Damp forest floor, inky-green lichen, leathery-woody with sweet, seaweed-like depth.

What it is: Natural absolute from evernia prunastri lichen on oak.
Where it comes from: South-Central Europe, processed in Grasse
When you smell it: Dry-down: hours later.
What perfumers do with it: Classic chypre and fougère foundation, giving mossy depth, shadow and strong fixation.
Worth knowing: Oakmoss is not a moss: it is a lichen, a partnership between a fungus and an alga.
Known in: Chypre (Coty, 1917); Mitsouko (Guerlain, 1919)
Rules: Limited. IFRA caps at 0.1%; atranol and chloroatranol must be near zero.
Also called: Mousse de chêne; Evernia prunastri (low-atranol grades)

On the label of 7 of the 232 perfumes read so far

Named by the house, not on the label, in 22

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