One of the most expensive of the flower oils, this intensely fragrant Mexican flower has found international fame in perfumes such as White Shoulders and Chloe. The Aztecs prized tuberose for medicine. Hawaiian leis are often made with it. The name describes its tuberous root.
Family: Agavaceae
Extraction: In the past, enfleurage of flower. (The absolute d'enfleurage has a fatty note due to small residues of lard.) The solvent-extracted oil has a slightly "green" scent. Concrete. Absolute. The odor is floral, very sweet and honeylike, with a hint of camphor. Sometimes the oil is made from the slightly less odorous double-petaled garden flower.
Emotional Attribute: The fragrance is sensual and aphrodisiac. Its East Indian name, rat ki rani, means "mistress of the night."
©1995 Kathi Keville and Mindy Green
(Excepted from Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to the Healing Art, Crossing Press)