Botanical extracts are defined in different ways, depending upon the source. In this short article discover what is a botanical extract, according to professional aromatherapist, botanical perfumer, herbalist, and gardener Sharon Falsetto Chapman.
Botanical extracts are a complex set of extracted materials derived from plants. Just as there are numerous definitions of what is a botanical extract, there are also a myriad of ways to extract materials from plants, even within the same extract type.
The definitions in this article are my own understanding based on years of practice as an aromatherapist, perfumer, herbalist, and gardener.
How Plants are Extracted
Plants are extracted in a number of ways, depending on the plant, purpose of the extract, plant part extracted, and, to some extent, past experience. There is no one way to extract a plant. You will find numerous ways to extract a plant for the same plant part and same extract type.
Some of the ways in which a plant might be extracted include:
- Distillation (hydro/steam)
- Solvent extraction
- Expression
- CO2 extraction (total/select)
- Infusion (water/oil/alcohol)
- Decoction
- Tincture
- Enfleurage
- Powdered extract (using a solvently extract herb or plant).
Types of Botanical Extract
Aromatherapists, herbalists, and botanical perfumers use extracts for various purposes; the former two usually use extracts for therapeutic purposes whereas the latter uses extracts for fragrance purposes. Both aromatic and non-aromatic plants can be used for therapeutic purposes.
Some aromatic plants which are used in botanical perfumery are not necessarily used in aromatherapy and/or herbalism because they don’t possess therapeutic properties and/or are too difficult to extract for therapeutic properties.
These are some of the types of botanical extracts that you might come across:
- Tea infusion (flowers/leaves/stalks) vs. tea concoction (roots/seeds/bark)
- Essential oil (distilled/expressed)
- Hydrosol (steam/water distilled)
- Absolute (solvent extracted)
- Tincture (alcohol extracted)
- Glycerite (glycerin extracted)
- Oil infusion (e.g. calendula (Calendula officinalis) with a sunflower (Helianthus annuus) oil base)
- CO2 extract
- Carrier oil (expeller pressed).
Examples of Botanical Extract
All plant parts are used to make a botanical extract, although some plant parts more readily give up an extract, depending on how you are extracting it. These are some examples of botanical extracts for plants:
- Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): Flowers, leaves, and stems; essential oil, hydrosol, absolute, tea (infusion), tincture, oil infusion, CO2 extract
- Calendula (Calendula officinalis): Flowers, involucre; oil infusion tea (infusion), hydrosol, CO2 extract, tincture
- Sunflower (Helianthus annuus): Leaves/seeds/flowerheads; Oil infusion, carrier oil, tea (infusion), tincture
- Lilac (Syringa vulgaris): Flowers; tincture, enfleurage, tea (infusion).
Learn More About Botanical Extracts with Sedona Aromatics
If you enjoyed reading this article, check out our Botanical Aromatherapy™ Membership School and our Language of Aromatics™ Course Programs for further information on botanical extracts and what you can do with them!
Also check out Stories of Scent for perfume-related articles.
About the Author:
The author of this article has been working in the health care industry since the 1990’s and in the aromatherapy industry since the 2000’s. She is UK-certified aromatherapist and a NAHA Certified Professional Aromatherapist®. She is both a published author and editor in aromatherapy, a consultant, custom blend formulator and, more recently, an herbalist, gardener, and botanical perfumer. She is the author of Authentic Aromatherapy and the current chief editor of the NAHA Aromatherapy Journal. Sharon has grown many herbs and plants in her own garden for the past seven years for study and medicinal purposes. She is currently on a year’s hiatus from gardening due to a recent move but is already planning her new herb and rose garden for next year.
