5 min read

Field Trip – Exploring Aromatic Grasses in Formulation

Written By: Robin Lander

As spring catalyzes new growth, we’re thrilled to see a seasonal flush of fresh green grasses on the horizon. Days become longer, soil temperatures rise, and grasses awaken from winter dormancy, emerging lush, vibrant, and full of life.

While grasses may not be top of the mind in botanical formulation, they cover over 40% of the Earth’s land surface, supporting biodiversity, storing carbon, and providing habitat and nourishment for countless species.

The botanical family known as Poaceae, or the “grass family,” includes over 10,000 species of true grasses, from the turfgrasses beneath our feet to towering bamboo, sugarcane, pasture grasses, and staple crops such as rice and corn. All are characterized by hollow stems and long, narrow leaves with parallel veins, adaptations that help these plants cope with frequent grazing and cutting.

For formulators, this family offers a surprisingly rich and versatile collection of aromatics. While each brings its own unique elements, grass-derived materials share the ability to impart a living realism to compositions. From green and sparkling to gourmand and earthy, we’ll explore our offerings from the grass family and how to use them in your formulations.

The Citrusy Cymbopogons

Among the most fresh and diffusive materials from the Poaceae family are three sister grasses with citrus-like aromas. Thriving in hot, humid climates, these fragrant tropical grasses develop an abundance of lemony-scented monoterpenes that are excellent at deterring insects like mosquitos. Their essential oils are also useful in soaps, cleansers, and muscle and joint massage oils. When used as middle to top notes, they lend a living, green character to compositions.

Botanical Origin: Cymbopogon flexuosus from Nepal or India

Aroma: Fresh, strong, lemon-like, grassy-herbaceous aroma with an herbal/oily drydown; very tenacious. The aroma is both comforting and elevating.

Suggested Use: Lemongrass is a remarkable air freshener, making it popular in diffusers and room sprays. It’s also a clean, robust aroma for soaps, cleansers, household cleaners, and candles. Formulators will find it refreshing in hair and beard oils, especially with Cedar, Atlas – Wild and Bergamot FCF.

Botanical Origin: Cymbopogon winterianus from Indonesia or India

Aroma: Sweet, fresh, and lemony, with a soft grassy/green undertone; has a sweet and somewhat woody dryout.

Suggested Use: Citronella is a classic addition to insect-deterring candles, outdoor sprays, and diffuser blends where it combines well with Eucalyptus, Lavender, and Tea Tree. It is used similarly to Lemongrass in cleansers and household products. In perfumery, trace amounts of Citronella can support Rose’s top notes, adding freshness, naturalness and longevity.

Botanical Origin: Cymbopogon martinii from Nepal or India

Aroma: Smooth, fresh, sweet-grassy, mild rosy-geraniol aroma with delicate citrus zest top notes. The scent is much less citrusy than Lemongrass or Citronella and closer to Geranium, Rose.

Suggested Use: Palmarosa may not be as well-known as Lemongrass or Citronella, yet it can be just as effective at deterring mosquitos. It is particularly valued in skincare for very dry or imbalanced skin and scalp, making it a wonderful addition to facial serums, scalp oils, soaps, and shampoos where it blends well with Frankincense and Lavender.

Sweet-Scented Meadowgrasses

Meadowgrasses are known for their soft, sweet, almost edible warmth and their historical importance in perfumery. 'New mown hay' or foin coupé perfume was popular at the turn of the 20th century, with the aromatic lactone coumarin comprising an important part of the powdery, hay-like aroma. Coumarin is released only after the grasses are cut and dried, evoking a comforting, carefree aroma redolent of caramelized almonds and sweet grass warmed by the sun.

Botanical Origin: Poaceae spp. / Foin coupé from France

Aroma: Deeply rich, suave, extremely sweet, coumarin-like, and faintly herbaceous like freshly cut hay, with a sweet jam-like undertone reminiscent of fig preserves and a subtle smoky nuance; very diffusive and tenacious. Hay Absolute falls in the Agrestic aroma family, a category known for delivering the scent of bucolic pastures and countrysides, shared by materials like Tobacco Absolute and Asparagus Twig Absolute.

Suggested Use: The uplifting aroma of Hay Absolute is best when combined with mossy and green materials, such as in chypres and fougères, or included in small amounts to bring sweet notes or a sense of greenness to compositions. It can lighten heavy florals like Orange Blossom and Jasmine or warm citruses such as Bergamot and Yuzu.

Botanical Origin: Anthoxanthum odoratum from France, also known as Sweet Vernal Grass, a sister of Sweetgrass.

Aroma: Powerful, sweet, herbaceous, and coumarin-rich, with notes of freshly cut hay, honey, mild tobacco, and gingerbread; diffusive, multi-faceted, and very tenacious. Where Hay Absolute is more fruity sweet and jammy, Flouve Absolute has a drier, honey-like sweetness, sunbaked warmth, and fascinating complexity.

Suggested Use: Intended only for perfumery, the material is diluted in 60% TEC (triethyl citrate), a natural ester of citric acid that aids solubility. Flouve Absolute 40% offers a persistent, herbaceous aroma with gourmand facets that sweetens woody and Amber bases and blends well with Oakmoss, Labdanum, and Lavender Absolutes, and opulent florals like Champaca.

Gourmand Grains

Beyond grasses fresh or dried lies another form more unexpected. Barley, one of the world’s oldest cultivated grasses, takes on a new aromatic profile through roasting. To produce our Barley extract, we dry the summer-harvested grains and then gently roast them to caramelize their natural sugars. This Maillard reaction, the same process that gives toasted bread and marshmallows their irresistible aroma, creates the extract’s distinctive toffee and honeyed warmth.

Botanical Origin: Hordeum vulgare from France

Aroma: Warm, rich aroma of roasted grain with woody gourmand notes of caramel, gingerbread, mocha, cocoa beans, and honey along with slight phenolic beer-like and leathery undertones.

Suggested Use: Solvent extracted with ethanol, this perfumery material contains 40% Barley Extract, Roasted in 60% ethyl alcohol, offering an alcohol-based solution for your perfumes and cosmetics. Highly versatile, Barley Extract, Roasted 40% introduces rich sensory complexity to your gourmand, woody, chypre, fougère, green, floral, and herbaceous fragrances. Try building it into an Amber accord with Labdanum and Vanilla Absolute - Organic.

*Please note: this popular material is currently sold out but will be back in stock soon.

Earthy Grass Roots

Steam distilled from the rootlets of a grass rather than the blades, Vetiver oils carry the imprint of their origin. As Vetiver roots absorb the essence of their terroir – soil, terrain, climate, and habitat – distinct aromatic nuances develop, making each Vetiver oil unique like a fine wine. Our five Vetiver options range from dark and smoky to bright and citrusy, however, our Vetiver, India has a beautiful complexity and clean intensity that sets it apart.

Botanical Origin: Chrysopogon zizanioides from India

Aroma: Initial clean, clear, and earthy, deepening in the lush dry down. Very complex with outstanding intensity, it has a more ‘transparent’ earthy quality than other Vetivers, and very light green-grassy and smoky nuances. Vetiver is one of the rare oils with an aroma that gets better with age.

Suggested Use: Vetiver is the most popular fixative base note in perfumery, blending well with a wide range of essences and lending an aroma evocative of crushed leaves, woody stems, and damp earth. Aromatherapists and cosmetic formulators use Vetiver in calming bath oils, meditation and nighttime blends, muscle and joint massage, and skincare preparations for dry, mature, or congested skin. Vetiver, India is luscious in a body oil with Rose Absolute, Trilogy and Orange, Blood – Organic.

Foray into the Fields

From the brightness of freshly cut green blades to the warmth of sunlit pastures, the richness of roasted grain, and the depth of earthy roots, aromatics of the grass family will surely take you on an olfactory journey. Each material carries its own comforting, textural realism to help bring a living quality to your formulations.