Angelica is a family of beautiful, ‘umbellifer’ (or umbrella-like) plants, including Angelica archangelica: both the root and the seeds can be used (though the root’s more pungent). The natural oil is also used in the liqueur Chartreuse (with its signature bright yellow-green colour, evoking the flowers of the plant itself), while the stem can be candied.
And in perfumery? Angelica gives a musk-like, green, aromatic odour – although today, it’s also synthesised, and used as a fixative and ‘synergist’. (Which basically means it makes some other ingredients work better together).
In neo-Pagan times, angelica was used to promote healing and protect against negative energies – and we rather like the thought of dabbing some of that on…
Smell angelica in:
Creed Royal Oud
Jo Malone London Rain and Angelica
