Collection: Fern Fragrances

Fern is a large group of plants belonging to the botanical group of Pteridophyta. They are vascular plants which, unlike mosses, have special tissues to conduct water, minerals, and photosynthetics through their bodies. Ferns live in a variety of habitats, but they are most often found in shady woods. Ferns have no seeds or flowers, but they are still very important in perfumery and prized for their fresh, green aroma that helps capture the elements of the forest. Additionally, ferns thrived on our planet for two hundred million years before the emergence of flowering plants, and they first appeared in the fossil record 360 million years ago in the Carboniferous. The commonly used name of fern comes from the Old English fearn which means feathers, which obviously describes the soft and delicate appearance of fern leaves. While it may not seem obvious, the entire fragrance class goes by the fern name - the Fougere family. Foug�re means fern in French and designates the whole class of modern perfumes inspired by the classic Foug�re Royale by Houbigant, designed by Paul Parquet. The Fougere fragrance types, which are particularly popular as men's fragrances, typically have top notes of herbal lavender and a base of oakmoss and coumarin. The fragrances belonging to the Fougere family are typically fresh, mossy, cool, herbaceous and moist. The inspiration behind them are the lush green forests where ferns are usually found. Ferns are used as ornamental plants but also for their unique properties of removing chemical pollutants from the air and contaminated soils. Some species are even collected for food or used as building material in tropical regions of the world. Their wonderful shape seems simple at first glance, but on closer inspection it reveals a beautiful and intricate pattern that displays self-similarity on all scales, reminiscent of the image of fractals - one of the most interesting puzzles mathematics. No wonder this plant has a special place in folk traditions around the world. In almost every culture in the world, ferns are associated with wealth and fortune. The inhabitants of the ancient Czech land of Bohemia believed that their money would never run out unless they had fern seeds among them. In Slavic folklore, it is believed that ferns bloom on Ivan Kupala's night, and anyone who sees fern flowers will be granted prosperity and luck for the rest of their life. Even more fascinating is a Finnish legend that anyone who collects the seed of a flowering fern on the night of the summer solstice could travel invisibly, guided by a ghostly light from the forest to the place where the hidden treasure is buried. The Night Ivana Kupala by E. Kurbala Ferns hold a special place in the history of the visual arts, marking the age of Victorian Fern Craze, also known as Pteridomania. The fern craze was popular in Britain between 837 and 1914, when the plant became a dominant motif in architecture and the decorative arts. During the fern craze, it was especially popular to collect and even grow ferns as a hobby. The fern madness was so intense that it even led to a serious reduction in the number of wild populations. The Killarney fern, for example, which is currently one of the most endangered plants in Europe, was considered extinct in Scotland due to 19th century pteridomania. The fern note in perfumery is actually a whimsical concept that captures the freshness and greenness of wood. The fern note recreates the mossy, damp, green and earthy scent of the forest and is usually obtained in a mixture of complex man-made or natural substances. Most often, fern scents combine basic materials such as hay, lavender, oakmoss and tonka bean absolutes. In modern perfumery, synthetically obtained coumarin is used in place of tonka bean absolute and hay absolute, but many natural perfumers still continue to recreate the scent of fern with purely natural ingredients. Even though fern compositions are usually mixtures of natural and synthetic ingredients, it is possible to extract essential oil from fern, more exactly - from male Aspidium. The essential oil is obtained from the rhizomes, using extraction with volatile solvents. The smell of fern essential oil is moist, earthy, sweet and woody, reminiscent of the typical smell of fresh humus. It is mainly used for medicinal purposes, and it could theoretically be used for fern-type perfumes, but the amounts obtained from the extraction have never been sufficient.