BUCHU (AGATHOSMA)

Buchu brings together a minty herbal character and a tart, blackcurrant-like fruitiness. Green leaves and a camphoraceous edge make it more pungent than a simple sweet berry impression. In perfume, this combination can sharpen fruit notes, bring a leafy accent to cassis or connect an aromatic composition with woody facets. Its fruity and herbal sides need not be equally prominent in every fragrance.

The name refers to South African aromatic shrubs in the genus Agathosma. A documented perfumery material is the steam-distilled leaf oil of A. betulina, also listed under the older name Barosma betulina. The concentrated oil can smell strongly sulfurous; used as a small part of a composition, it can instead help shape a tart-fruit effect. A listed buchu note does not reveal a perfume’s exact formula.