Oakmoss

Oakmoss is not a moss. It is a lichen, a pale grey green tangle that grows on the bark of old oaks, and it smells of the forest floor after rain: damp, earthy, faintly smoky and impossibly deep. It was the foundation of the great chypres of the twentieth century, and it is the foundation of my green chapter.

What oakmoss is

Oakmoss absolute is solvent extracted from Evernia prunastri, a lichen that grows on oaks and other trees across the temperate forests of the northern hemisphere. The lichen is gathered by hand, dried and extracted to give a dark, viscous absolute of great richness. Because certain of its natural components can sensitise skin, the oakmoss used today is prepared to remove those components and meet the standards of the International Fragrance Association. Ours is that compliant absolute, with the mossy, earthy heart of the lichen intact.

Where oakmoss grows

Our formula books record the material as a compliant absolute but not a country of harvest, and so I print none. Oakmoss is gathered in the oak forests of southern and central Europe and the Balkans, where the lichen grows thickly on old trees, and it is processed by a handful of specialist houses. The house rule holds: where no origin is written down, none is claimed. What I can say is that the material is the true lichen of the oak, with the forest floor in it.

How oakmoss smells

Smoky, mossy, forest floor. It smells of damp earth, wet bark, dry leaves and a faint smoke, with a bitter green depth and a soft, almost salty finish that lasts on skin for a day.

Oakmoss in our chapter

• IIParadis de BleuThe Leaves · in the base

  In Paradis de Bleu it is the floor of the forest, the moss beneath the leaves that holds the cedars, the vetiver and the leather together.

A note from the atelier

You cannot write a chapter about leaves without writing about what they fall onto. Oakmoss is the ground of Paradis de Bleu, and everything green in the chapter eventually comes to rest on it.

Questions about oakmoss