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Rosewood Essential Oil
Rosewood is a medium sized, tropical, evergreen tree with a reddish bark and heartwood, bearing yellow flowers. Native to the Amazon region; Brazil and Peru are the main producers, this is one of the trees being extensively felled in the clearing of the South American rainforests. There are several species of timber all known as rosewood; however, the essential oil is distilled only from the above species
Rosewood oil is obtained by felling wild, Amazonian species of Aniba and steam distilling the comminuted trunkwood. The oil ("bois de rose") possesses a characteristic aroma and is a long-established ingredient in the more expensive perfumes. Although formerly it was used more widely as a fragrance, particularly in soaps, where the strong top-note could be used to advantage, its relatively high price now makes it uncompetitive with the cheaper, larger volume oils. Rosewood oil is rich in linalool, a chemical which can be transformed into a number of derivatives of value to the flavour and fragrance industries, and up until the 1960s rosewood oil was an important source of natural linalool. With the advent of synthetic linalool this use largely disappeared. For those applications where natural linalool is preferred, rosewood oil has been displaced by cheaper alternatives (Chinese Ho oils from Cinnamomum camphora). There does remain, however, a very small niche market for the preparation of linalool derivatives possessing an "ex rosewood" character.
Use in aromatherapy formulations, a relatively recent application, has become less attractive as environmental concerns have grown over the destructive nature of rosewood oil production in Brazil. The essential oil is extracted from the wood. The leaves and roots are also fragrant. Rosewood oil contains high concentrations of linalool, which can be transformed into a number of derivatives for the flavour and fragrances industry. Rosewood oil has for a long time been used in the preparation of more expensive perfumes and at one time in fragrant soaps. Synthetic linalool and more cheaply harvested natural sources of linalool are now more commonly used than Rosewood oil. The timber is also of some commercial value in furniture-making, turnery, boat or canoe building, millwork, flooring, plywood, veneer and the making of agricultural implements and tool handles.
| Adulteration: | Ho wood leaves and branchlets are now used more often instead of rosewood for obvious ecolological reasons. Synthetic linalool and linalyl acetate are probably used even more often. |
| GRAS Status: | Rosewood essential oil has GRAS status. (49) |
Properties, Indications
and Uses: |
Properties: ()
Indicated for: ()
Uses:
Wrinkles and Dry Skin: Use a blend of rosewood oil and jojoba oil as a nighttime moisturizer for wrinkles and mature skin. Add 1 drop of rosewood oil and to 1 teaspoon of jojoba or other vegetable oil, and massage gently into the face, neck and chest. (25)
Emotional vulnerability: Vapourize 3 drops of rosewood oil in a vapourizer to help soothe feelings of emotional vulnerability, especially during times of change and stress. It can be blended with any of the other uplifting oils, such as bergamot, mandarin and neroli. (25)
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| Toxicity: | LD50 - (oral) rat >5g/kg; (dermal) rabbit >5g/kg;
Irritation/Sensitisation - Acetylated - Nil at 12%
Phototoxicity - Nil reported |
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