The plate: oakmoss
Planche XXX · Mousse de chêneOakmoss · Evernia prunastri (a lichen, not a moss)

Ingredients · Earth & moss · dry-down

Oakmoss absolute

Damp forest floor, inky-green lichen, leathery-woody with sweet, seaweed-like depth.

What it is
Natural absolute from evernia prunastri lichen on oak.
Where it comes from
South-Central Europe, processed in Grasse
When you smell it
Dry-down: what stays.
What perfumers do with it
Classic chypre and fougère foundation, giving mossy depth, shadow and strong fixation.
Worth knowing
Oakmoss is not a moss: it is a lichen, a partnership between a fungus and an alga.
Known in
Chypre (Coty, 1917); Mitsouko (Guerlain, 1919)
Rules
Limited. IFRA caps at 0.1%; atranol and chloroatranol must be near zero.
Also called
Mousse de chêne; Evernia prunastri (low-atranol grades)

On the label of 35 of the 1080 perfumes read so far

Bleu de ChanelChanel · printed “Evernia prunastri (oak moss) extract”Terre d'HermèsHermès · printed “Evernia prunastri (oakmoss) extract”Oud for Greatness NeoInitio · printed “Evernia prunastri (oakmoss) extract”BoundlessAmouage · printed “Evernia prunastri extract”HeroBurberry · printed “Evernia prunastri (oakmoss) extract”Labdanum 18Le Labo · printed “Evernia prunastri (oakmoss) extract”

Named by the house, not on the label, in 99

MitsoukoGuerlain · “moss”Eau SauvageDior · “chypre accord (bergamot, floral notes, oak moss, patchouli)”Fougère RoyaleHoubigant · “moss notes”ChypreCoty · “mosses (from the older 'poudre de chypre')”Gold ManAmouage · “Oakmoss”Jubilation XXV ManAmouage · “Moss”

Sources