04/04/2015 Huisache: Brush Country Perfume Plant

Huisache Show

Hundreds of yellow-orange flowers cover the limbs of this Huisache tree. The fragrance put out by these blooms is light and sweet, reminiscent of orange blossoms and violets. Called “cassie” in France, the extract of the flowers is a costly addition to some perfumes. Robert Benson Photo.

Huisache: Brush Country Perfume Plant

It has been a good year for Huisache. This small tree is in full bloom right now. I am seeing the yellow-orange, vase-shaped, shrubby trees all over the Brush Country.

Huisache has very fragrant flowers and the flowers grow all up and down the branches. But with all the different kinds of wildflowers and shrubs blooming, it is difficult to sort out the perfume of Huisache on the wind.

You have to go up to a Huisache, put your nose next to the freshest blossoms, and breathe deeply. The smell is sweet and light, reminiscent of orange blossoms and violets. It has none of the cloying heaviness of some flowers. You can understand why early on it was borrowed for use in perfumes.

Huisache Blossoms

A Huisache blossom is really a ball of many tiny flowers. The ball is the size of a small marble. The surface appears fuzzy because each flower’s stamens extend beyond the flower itself. Robert Benson Photo.

Huisache has been cultivated in the south of France since 1825.   It is known there as “cassie ancienne.” But it was first used in the perfume industry in Rome. In 1611, Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, of the wealthy and influential Farnese family (which intermarried with the Medicis and Borgias) imported the tree from Santo Domingo in the West Indies. Its scientific name, Acacia farnesiana, honors the Cardinal. The genus name, Acacia, is derived from the Greek word “akis” which means a sharp point. Many species of Acacia bear thorns, including this one. Huisache has a pair of straight, pin-like thorns, about a quarter of an inch long, at each node.

The Huisache trees growing in the Farnese gardens soon attracted the attention of the perfume-makers. Although difficult to extract, they found ways to produce enough of the Huisache’s fragrant oil to use it in perfumes.

The essential oil that produces the heavenly fragrance is known as cassie extract, or cassie absolute. Essential oils are volatile oils. Unlike fatty oils, essential oils volatilize (or evaporate) on exposure to air. This releases the pleasant taste and strong aromatic odor we associate with these oils. Perfumers describe cassie absolute as having “an extremely warm, powdery-spicy and at the same time herbaceous and floral odor with a deep and very tenacious cinnamic-balsamic undertone…” Whoa! I just thought Huisache smelled nice!

Cassie extracts are very difficult to produce. The delicate fragrance is destroyed by the heat of steam distillation. So the tiny flowers must be hand-picked (minding the thorns) and the perfume extracted using volatile solvents. It is also possible to extract the essential oil by macerating the flowers in coconut oil or cocoa butter.   Both ways are time-consuming and expensive. Since “extrait de cassie” is one of the more costly scents in the perfume industry, it is rarely used in its pure state. French parfumiers usually blend cassie with less costly scents to “deepen and extend the notes of other fragrances, especially those involving violet bouquets.”

Just how costly is cassie extract? I checked on WholeSpectrum.biz on the internet and found cassie ancienne absolute on sale for $4,473.50 per kilogram (2.2 pounds.) And I am pretty sure that shipping is extra. For comparison, a kilogram of essential peppermint oil is $105.

This century is experiencing a new trend in the perfume industry. Especially good years for Huisache, years in which there are no early freezes or violent storms, produce a bumper crop of superb cassie flowers. The extract that results is made into a “vintage edition” fragrance. The 2005 cassie harvest in Provence, France, was just such a vintage crop. So now, like wines, perfumes can have vintages and maybe even terroir!

Jockey Club Cologne for men was a favorite of President John F. Kennedy. Jockey Club is purported to contain cassie extract as one of its ingredients. The cologne’s fresh, dry, slightly racy scent is said to be preferred by equestrian enthusiasts. It was “always appropriate, worn equally well at the Belmont Stakes or the Inaugural Ball.” I wonder if you can detect the fragrance of Huisache in this cologne.

On a more humble note, Huisache is a member of the Legume Family. Legumes have bean-like pods. All beans, peas, clovers, alfalfa, even peanuts are legumes. This family is an important food-plant family, second only to the grasses (the source of all our cereal grains).

Legumes also help enrich the soil with nitrogen, a necessary nutrient for plant growth. As a component of the brush, Huisache improves fertility of the soil while also serving as a good wildlife plant. The beans have an 18% crude protein value, and the leaves have 23%.   White-tailed Deer browse on the leaves, and together with Javelinas, feed on the beans. The seeds are relished by quail and doves.   Many species of birds use Huisache for cover, loafing and nesting.

So whether you see this common Brush Country tree as a wildlife food, a soil-enriching fertilizer, or as a source of an expensive fragrance, you should appreciate it. Even if it does have thorns!

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