Cedarwood

Genus Cedrus

Cedarwood is a shop name, not a botanical one. Two of them are true cedars, from Morocco and the Himalayas, and the rest are junipers sold under the same label. They all smell woody and dry, but the true cedars are creamier and the junipers more austere, closer to a pencil sharpener. What they share is cedrol, the compound that makes cedarwood calming. In studies where people breathed it in, it slowed the heart, lowered blood pressure and tipped the nervous system towards rest.^[1]

Atlas Cedarwood

Cedrus atlantica

Also Known As: Atlas Cedar, Moroccan Cedarwood
Family: Woody
Perfumery Note: Base
Intensity: Medium
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Wood
Origins: Morocco, United States, India
Effect: Grounding & Centering, Sleep & Relaxation
Aroma: Woody, Dry, Balsamic
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Skincare, Haircare, Perfumery & Fragrance Making
Price: $$$$Slow-growing Cedrus atlantica in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains yields good-quality oil but trees take decades to mature; sustainable harvesting limits supply and supports a moderate price

Atlas cedar is the warm one, distilled from heartwood in the mountains of Morocco. Atlantones give it a rich, balsamic sweetness the juniper cedarwoods cannot match. In mice recovering from surgery, breathing the oil reduced pain behaviour by switching on the brain's own pain-damping pathways.^[2] In dish tests it held back a broad range of bacteria, including E. coli, at strengths comparable to standard antibiotics.^[3] Both are early findings in animals and dishes rather than in people.

Himalayan Cedarwood

Cedrus deodara

Also Known As: Deodar Cedar, Himalayan Cedar
Family: Woody
Perfumery Note: Base
Intensity: Medium
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Wood
Origins: India, Nepal, Pakistan
Effect: Sleep & Relaxation, Grounding & Centering
Aroma: Woody, Sweet, Balsamic
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Skincare, Haircare, Perfumery & Fragrance Making
Price: $$$$Cedrus deodara from Nepal and northern India is harvested at smaller volumes than Atlas; limited export infrastructure and moderate yields place it at a similar price to Atlas cedarwood

Himalayan cedar is the sweetest of the cedarwoods, warmer and more balsamic than Atlas. Between half and three quarters of the oil is himachalene, which is what gives it that soft, rounded depth.^[4] Almost all the human research on cedarwood is about cedrol, and this species leans on himachalenes instead. What himachalene is well documented for is killing insects: himachalol and beta-himachalene from this oil proved potently insecticidal.^[5] For people, it is bought for the smell rather than for tested effects.

Texas Cedarwood

Juniperus ashei

Also Known As: Mountain Cedar, Ashe Juniper, Rock Cedar
Family: Woody
Perfumery Note: Base
Intensity: Medium
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Wood
Origins: Texas, USA, Mexico
Effect: Grounding & Centering, Sleep & Relaxation
Aroma: Woody, Dry, Balsamic, Slightly Smoky
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Skincare, Haircare, Perfumery & Fragrance Making, Household & Cleaning
Price: $$$$Juniperus ashei is treated as an invasive pest in Texas; the oil is largely a byproduct of clearing programs, making raw material extremely cheap and the final oil very affordable

Texas cedarwood is a juniper wearing a cedar's name, and it smells drier and slightly smoky. Thujopsene makes up about a third of it and cedrol about a quarter.^[6] It is the cheap workhorse of the group, used where Atlas would be too rich or too expensive. One thing worth knowing: in liver tissue tests, cedrol and thujopsene slowed the enzymes the body uses to clear medicines.^[7] That matters only with heavy or repeated use on skin, but it is worth knowing if you take prescription drugs.

Virginian Cedarwood

Juniperus virginiana

Also Known As: Red Cedar, Eastern Red Cedar, Virginia Cedar
Family: Woody
Perfumery Note: Base
Intensity: Medium
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Wood
Origins: United States, Canada
Effect: Grounding & Centering, Sleep & Relaxation
Aroma: Woody, Dry, Pencil Shaving, Mild Cedar
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Skincare, Haircare, Perfumery & Fragrance Making, Household & Cleaning
Price: $$$$Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) grows abundantly across the eastern United States; large plantation supply and efficient steam distillation of wood chips make it one of the cheapest cedar oils

Virginian cedarwood is the pencil-shaving smell, dry and quiet rather than rich. It comes from the heartwood of the eastern red cedar, which is a juniper rather than a cedar. A quarter of the oil is cedrol, and another quarter is cedrene. In mice, cedrol eased anxious behaviour in a dose-dependent way, working through the serotonin and dopamine systems.^[8] It is also the traditional oil for keeping moths out of a wardrobe.

Essential Nose

Cedarwood

Atlas Cedarwood

Himalayan Cedarwood

Texas Cedarwood

Virginian Cedarwood

References