Cedar Leaves is a green, aromatic note taken from the foliage of trees sold as cedar, most often the northern white cedar Thuja occidentalis. Unlike cedarwood it smells sharp, herbaceous and camphoraceous rather than woody, and it belongs to the green and aromatic side of the woody family.

What does Cedar Leaves smell like?

Crush a sprig of thuja and you get something closer to sage or tansy than to timber: a cool, penetrating, slightly medicinal green with a fruity, almost apple-like edge and a resinous undertone. The oil is dominated by thujone, which gives that bracing, minty-camphor bite, along with fenchone and small amounts of camphor. Leaf oils from western red cedar (Thuja plicata) are similar but somewhat softer. In a finished perfume the note reads as a walk through a damp conifer hedge rather than a woodworking shop.

Where Cedar Leaves comes from

Cedar leaf oil is steam-distilled from the fresh twigs and leaves of thuja trees, mostly in Canada and the north-eastern United States, where the material is gathered from wild stands and hedging.

• Also known as: Cedar leaf oil, thuja oil, white cedar leaf
• Fragrance family: Green / Aromatic woody
• Type: Natural
• Main origins: Canada, USA
• How it's obtained: Steam distillation of leaves and twigs
• Key aroma molecules: α-thujone, β-thujone, fenchone, camphor

Cedar Leaves in perfume history

Thuja was used by Indigenous peoples of North America long before European settlers, and early colonists adopted it for home remedies and household scenting. In perfumery it has always been a minor, specialist material: a little of the oil was used to add a cool, herbal lift to fougères, men's colognes and pine bath products through the twentieth century.

Cedar Leaves in modern perfumery

The note has found a new audience in niche fragrance and home scent, where perfumers want a realistic forest-floor or cabin impression. Because the raw oil is so strong, it is dosed in traces or replaced by blends of fir, cypress and herbal materials.

How Cedar Leaves wears and what it pairs with

Cedar leaf is a top-to-heart note: it hits immediately, then settles into a quieter green-woody hum within an hour or so. It pairs well with fir balsam, juniper berry, lavender, clary sage, vetiver, cedarwood and smoky birch.