Product Overview
Callitris columellaris (formerly known as the synonym Callitris intratropica) is an evergreen (coniferous) tree native primarily to coastal Australia, with columellaris referring to its columella, the small pillar of woody tissue at the heart of a Callitris seed cone.[1],[2] An essential oil, sometimes called 'Australian Blue Cypress' oil in the trade, is extracted from this species that finds use in perfumery, cosmetics, and aromatherapy.[3] The oil of Blue Cypress has long been used for incense and in skincare by some mainland aboriginal groups and by the Tiwi people of Bathurst and Melville Islands, northeast of Darwin, Australia.[4]
Blue Cypress oil would not be blue were it not for an experimental distillation that took place in the 1990s.[5] Apparently this oil only turns blue when the heartwood and bark are co-distilled; color variations from greenish-blue to cobalt blue are observed depending on the ratio of the two.[6]
1 Farjon, Aljos and Denis Filer. An Atlas of the World’s Conifers, 2013, pp. 354-5.
2 Tisserand, Robert and Rodney Young. Essential Oil Safety, 2nd ed., 2014, p. 266.
