Spikenard Green CO2 (Green Muskroot)

Adam Michael has this to say “As part of my Chinese network I introduced my Chinese aglaia flower absolute in July, and this was followed by releasing the epic Chinese jasmine sambac signature gold absolute in October. And now for the third instalment of the series, whilst not big ticket, or Iuxury from an aromatic stance, I bring you this little stinker, green spikenard co2 on Christmas day.

This spikenard co2 also known as muskroot, is unusual on two fronts, first its Chinese material that within the west is dominated by Indian supply and to a lesser extent Nepalese, and secondly this is a co2 extraction instead of essential oil.

Aromatically, applied neat on strip or inhaled from the bottle, this is very root orientated, vegetative, somewhat woody, forest green, valerian-gromwell stinky, and an outright musty affair. All the notes mentioned may change order and strength as we progress but otherwise this is the profile from start to finish. The woody qualities are presented in a decay and rotting form and maybe are a little comparable to qualities within smelling jade wood. And the valerian aspects are not too much in the sweaty feet sense, at least for me, but more comparable always to smelling gromwell root, so masculine and a tad urinal mixed with some herbaceous tonalities and mushroom traces in the theme of smelling octanol-3 at trace levels.

In dilution, from 50%, the valerian and or gromwell root profiles are vastly softened and the prominent forces at work are all musty, woody, rooty and green with strong animalic-musky tonalities.

Intensely green in colour regardless of weight or volume, and used sparingly this is an essential CO2 when creating forest-floor compositions, adding manly-ness to lavender colognes, generally pairing well with most herbaceous natured aromatics, supports cardamom, ginger, cypriol rich compositions, is a friend to seaweed aromatics and pairs very well also with atlas cedarwood, cedrat and red mandarins.”

Botanical Name: Nardostachys jatamansi

Origin: China