FLOUVE

Flouve is sweet vernal grass, Anthoxanthum odoratum, a perfumery material associated with the rounded sweetness of cut hay. Its herbal character can carry honeyed, tobacco-like and gingerbread nuances, giving the impression of dried grass with a warmer, almost edible edge. Coumarin helps explain that recognizable sweet-hay character; the note is more specific than a general impression of green leaves.

Natural flouve extracts exist, including an absolute obtained by solvent extraction. French suppliers describe a crop that is cut and dried before extraction, although that process should not be assumed for every flouve material. In a perfume, the hay-like sweetness may soften dry woods or sit alongside fuller flowers. The note name describes an olfactory theme and does not establish which extract, if any, a particular fragrance contains.