Geranium

Geranium belongs to the Pelargonium genus, a genuine botanical misnomer, since true geranium (the hardy meadow cranesbill) carries little fragrance. The one that fills gardens and distilleries is Pelargonium graveolens, a tender shrub native to southern Africa that reached European windowsills in the seventeenth century and French perfumery by the 1800s.

The scent is deceptively complex. On first breath it reads as floral, rose and something softer, but underneath is a clean, green, almost citrusy sharpness that lifts the whole thing. There is a faint mentholated coolness at the edges. In the dry-down it becomes rounder, warmer, closer to skin. Geranium behaves differently on different people; some find it sweeter, others greener, and that variation is part of its honesty.

Spring is its natural season, the time of year when the garden turns green again, but the scent moves easily through the day. It is less obviously romantic than jasmine, less drowsy than lavender. The tradition places it under Calm and Love & Romance in the intention register, and alongside Balance and Joy in mood, a combination that tells you it is the kind of floral that steadies rather than overwhelms.

The suggestion, as with most scents worth keeping, is unhurried: a few drops in a morning diffuser while the day is still deciding what it wants to be, or a tiny amount at the wrist for the hours that need softening without sedation. The scent asks only that you return to it.

In the catalogue you'll find geranium as essential oil, room sprays, candles and soap: the whole shelf of its green, clean register.