There are around 150 species of rose, and a myriad of named cultivars.
Essential oils, concretes and absolutes may be produced from the flowers – all
finding applications in perfumery. The products vary in specification and odour, depending on the botanical source, geography and ecology and method of
extraction.
Rose de Mai, also known as Rosa centifolia, is a type of rose plant that is known for its fragrant, pink blooms. The essential oil derived from the petals of the Rose de Mai flower is highly prized in perfumery for its sweet, floral scent.
NB: The absolutes have much greater amounts of phenyl ethanol than
the essential oils – usually around 60 per cent (Tisserand and Balacs 1995), along
with geraniol, citronellol, nerol and farnesol (Jouhar 1991).
