Rose Centifolia
7 fragrances with this note
Part of accords: Floral, Rose, Chypre, Oriental
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- Latin name
- Rosa × centifolia
- Family
- Rose family (Rosaceae)
- Origin
- Grasse (France), Morocco
- Parts used
- petals picked in May
- Raw materials
- absolute (concrete)
- Extraction
- solvent extraction
- Olfactory group
- floral
- Position in the pyramid
- heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- phenylethyl alcohol, citronellol, damascones
Rosa centifolia (“hundred-petalled”) is a complex garden hybrid with a lush, globe-shaped flower holding dozens or even hundreds of thin petals. It sets almost no seed, so it is propagated by cuttings — just as it was centuries ago.
How it smells: tender, honeyed and powdery, with the fresh green of the stem and a light peppery spice. Centifolia is softer and more watercolour-like than the Damask rose — less wine and spice, more honey and powder.
Centifolia is hardly ever distilled: it gives an absolute that preserves all the honeyed depth of the petals. The best-known plantations are in Grasse and Morocco, where it is harvested for only a few weeks a year.
What it pairs with: with jasmine — the classic floral duet, with iris and violet — powdery luxury, with lychee and raspberry — a modern fruity rose, with musk — a tender skin-like rose, with patchouli — chypre elegance.
Good to know: the lush roses in paintings by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Dutch and Flemish masters are most often centifolias.
