Rose Materials
Rose materials cover what is made from rose flowers: the steam-distilled oil, the solvent and COβ extracts, the flower water that comes with distillation, the dried petals, and the compounds built to reproduce rose character. The names in this family are old and precise, and a buyer who does not know them will read a word like "absolute" as a stronger version of "oil" rather than as a different product made by a different method.
What this family includes
The family covers the steam-distilled rose oil, the absolute made by solvent extraction, the COβ extract, the hydrosol or flower water, the dried petals sold for use and for blending, and the rose compounds and bases sold to houses that build on them. Within it, the products come from the same flowers and are separated by the method and by the carrier.
It is a family that behaves differently from the wood families in this section. A rose material is extracted from a delicate material by a costly process, so the yield is low and the price of a kilogram of oil is set by a great deal of plant, which is one reason the field list matters more here than elsewhere.
Not the same as
A rose oil and a rose absolute are not the same product at two strengths. One is a distillation and the other an extract made with a solvent, and they differ in the carrier, in the colour and in the way they behave in a formula.
A rose material is not a rose compound, which is a manufactured fragrance material made to reproduce the same impression and which contains no rose flowers. It is not a rose-scented body oil, and it is not the culinary rose water sold for drinking or cooking, which is a food product governed by a different set of rules.
Material and format fields
The fields are: the species and the source of the flowers; the part used, which for a rose is the flower and for a supplier may be fresh or dried; the extraction method; the carrier or solvent used and the residual position of the extract; the batch reference and the date; the net quantity and the container, since an extract can thicken and settle in a way a distilled oil does not; and the intended use.
On the standards, the position follows the same division as elsewhere in this section. A distilled or extracted natural material offered as a raw material sits outside the certificate mechanism, because IFRA certificates are generally not issued for raw materials. A rose compound built for a finished consumer product is a fragrance mixture and is inside it: conformity is established by the formulator or supplier for the stated use, and the limits are expressed in the finished product rather than in the mixture.
Comparisons
The distillation and the extract are compared by method rather than by price, because a buyer who knows the two are made differently stops comparing them at all. The flower water is compared with the oil it comes from, and the dried petals are compared with the oil as a raw input rather than as a competitor.
And the whole family is compared with the compounds, because a house that wants rose character has two routes: to buy the natural material, which is costly and limited by the harvest, or to buy an accord, which is neither better nor worse but a different thing entirely.
Buyer requirements
Ask the extraction method before anything else, because it decides the form, the carrier and the price. Then ask the batch and the date, since a natural extract changes as it settles and ages, and ask how it has been stored.
Ask what the material is for, and whether it is to be used as a scent or as a base. A rose material bought as a base is judged on how it holds other materials and how stable it is, not on how it smells on its own.
Related suppliers
The directory lists raw-material suppliers and distributors, and a rose material usually reaches the buyer through a raw-material supplier rather than through a distiller, because the extraction and the conditioning happen upstream of the trade this directory covers. A supplier worth approaching will state the method and the source of the flowers.
Relevant guides
Fragrance notes versus ingredients explains why a rose note on a label does not tell a buyer whether the product contains rose flowers. Reading intended-use instructions covers the conditions attached to a material in use. Label and organize samples covers keeping a natural extract comparable over time.
- Search the supplier directory
- Start a request for quote
- Read fragrance notes versus ingredients
This page defines the family and the fields a buyer should fill in. It does not state a composition, a yield, a price or a market level, and it does not establish the conservation status of any plant.
- IFRA β Understanding the IFRA StandardsEstablishes that the IFRA Standards operate through three kinds of control β prohibition of a material, restriction of the maximum quantity used, and specification of conditions on a material β and that quantitative limits are expressed as an upper concentration in the finished consumer product rather than in the fragrance mixture. Establishes that product types are set out in the guidance documents and that the applicable category is determined from the product's intended use. Establishes that IFRA itself does not issue certificates, does not authorise any third party to certify on its behalf, does not certify products, and that a Certificate of Conformity does not replace a safety assessment. It does not establish the safety of any particular product, the concentration of any material in any product, or compliance by any named supplier.
- IFRA β Using the IFRA StandardsEstablishes that conformity for a fragrance mixture's intended use is established by the fragrance-mixture formulator or supplier, that a Certificate of Conformity applies exclusively to fragrance mixtures intended for incorporation into finished consumer products, and that IFRA Certificates are generally not issued for raw materials. Establishes that the final decision and responsibility for the finished product lies with the end consumer product manufacturer, and that conformity with the Standards does not exempt a company from applicable national or local regulation. It does not establish that any named supplier holds a certificate, nor what any certificate says about a finished product.
- IFRA β Standards libraryEstablishes that the IFRA Standards are held in a searchable database and that each record can be filtered by control type β restriction, specification or prohibition β as well as by amendment, CAS number and status. It is the place a specific limit is looked up. It does not establish which category a product belongs to, and it does not establish that any finished product conforms to any standard.
- Agarwood: A reviewStates that CITES Appendix II covers all species of Aquilaria and Gyrinops, and reports fifteen Aquilaria species distributed across the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, from Pakistan and India through southern China into Southeast Asia. It does not establish the legal status of any individual shipment in any particular jurisdiction.
- ITTO β CITES COP examines agarwoodEstablishes that all species of Aquilaria and Gyrinops have been listed in CITES Appendix II since 2004, and that the listing followed unsustainable extraction. Establishes that the report reviews wild and planted agarwood resources, processing technologies, products and regulatory practices, and that cultivation and inoculation of agarwood species are described as relieving pressure on wild populations in natural forests. It does not state what an Appendix II listing requires for trade, and it does not establish the origin, age or quality of any material.
OudGuide editorial review Β· 2026-10-21
Reviewed against the cited sources. The family boundary was checked against the format descriptions elsewhere in the encyclopedia, the distinction between the part of the family that carries a fragrance mixture and the part that does not was checked rather than assumed, and no composition, concentration, price or grade is stated anywhere on the page.