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The Plant Behind the Oil: Rock Rose

They revered the goats from whose beards this celestial substance was gathered, and pharaohs would adorn themselves with fake beards of goat furs saturated in labdanum (cistus resin) to symbolize their connection to the heavenly world.

The Plant Behind The Oil Sampling Aromatherapist

by Katherine Grames

November 12, 2024 ∙ 8 min read

Labdanum is a fragrance of prophecy, of visions, of quests in the search for truth.

Valerie Ann Worwood, The Fragrant Heavens, 1999

Rock Rose is a striking plant with its luminous, maroon-spotted flowers and its curiously shiny foliage coated in sticky exudate. This substance is a uniquely aromatic resin that has been prized by humans from time immemorial, and it has given this hardy shrub a colorful niche in the history and lore of fragrant plants.