Article (website)  (19 May 2009)  Includes photo(s).
 
Visit to the Rose de Mai Fields in Grasse

Video  (14 May 2009)  
 
Video in French

Article (website)  (Sep 2008)  
 
Rosa centifolia/Rose de Mai/Cabbage Rose/Provence Rose
The absolute is extracted from the blossoms of the deciduous shrub, Rosa centifolia which is cultivated in France, Morocco, Egypt and to a small extent in India. The olfactory characteristics of the absolute will vary according to the point of origin, method of extraction, soil grown in, etc as holds true with other essential oils and absolutes. The differences may be minor but will definitely be evident to the one doing an olfactory examination of the different samples. This evaluation is based on a sample of Rose de Mai from France where it is still cultivated and extracted on a very limited basis compared to the golden age of perfumery in France from the late part of the 18th century until the 1930's.
The absolute is a yellow to deep orange viscous liquid displaying a deep, rich, soft, delicate, sweet roseaceous bouquet with a honeylike undertone. The bouquet while soft and delicate has a unique warmth and radiance. Its tenacity is also very good. As noted by several authors the Rose de Mai from France the spicy note often found in Rosa damascena absolute is much reduced.
In perfumery it has wide application as it blends well with many aromatic essences. It is valued in oriental bouquets, high class floral perfumes, chypres, ambre compositions and would be excellent in culinary, historical and sacred perfumes as the love of this scent is almost universal.
Blends well with jasmin grandiflorum abs, orange blossom abs, cassie abs, boronia abs, beeswax abs, sage clary abs and eo, geranium abs and eo, bergamot eo, sandalwood abs and eo, patchouli abs and eo, guaicwood eo, clove bud abs and co2, rosewood eo, agarwood eo.

Article (website)  (Oct 2007)  
 
Botanical Description of Rose de Mai
This is an erect shrub, 3 to 6 feet in height, having the branches closely covered with nearly straight prickles, scarcely dilated at base, and glandular bristles of various forms and sizes; the large ones are falcate. Shoots erect. Leaves unequally pinnated; leaflets 5 to 7, oblong or ovate, glandular-ciliate on the margin, and subpilose beneath. The flowers are large, usually of a pink color, but varying in hue, form, size, etc., through 100 known varieties, several together, and, drooping, with leafy bracts; flower-bud short and ovoid. Sepals leafy, compound, viscid, and spreading in flower. Petals 5 [should be 5 rows], and usually pale-red. Fruit ovoid; calyx and peduncles glandular-hispid, viscid, and fragrant.
....Other mother plants of roses for reproduction and breeding of new varieties were imported in the 18th century from Holland and Belgium, where exterior trade with the Orient permitted the importation of new botanical roses from overseas. Born in France in the 16th century from several crossings of botanical roses, R. x centifolia or 'Cabbage Rose' with its hundred petals, was introduced in Grasse for the production of rose essence.
....The rose plantations are relatively small and mostly operated by individual farmers and their families--are located near Grasse, Pegomas, Mougin, Montauroux, and other parts of that picturesque and beautiful country; two-thirds of the crop comes from La Colle, Grasse, and Saint-Paul de Vence. In 1939 the extraction of Grasse region processed altogether 750,000 kilos of roses(rose de mai) In 1946 the quantity declined to about 400,000 kilos. In 1949 the Grasse region produced 500,000 kilos of roses and in 1950 300,000 kilos. According to Elmer, roses cultivated in the higher altitudes(about 1,150 meters) yield from 30-35% more concrete than the flowers from the plains(100-250 meter altitude)
....The variety of rose mostly cultivated is the Rose de Mai, a hybrid of R. gallica and R. centifolia, bearing recurved prickles on the flowering branches. Two types are grown in the Grasse district, one more spiny than the other. They are mingled in the plantations, but the more spiny is preferred for less irrigated ground and the one with fewer thorns for wellwatered land. The bushes are planted half a metre apart, in rows one metre asunder. The first fortnight in May sees the rose harvest. The buds open gradually and are numerous, as each stalk bears a dense cluster and all the annual stems are well-covered. In the second half of May, after flowering, they are cut back and the complete pruning takes place in the following November. A rose plantation lasts from eight to ten years. Five thousand rose-trees will occupy about 1/2 acre of land and will produce about 2,200 lb. of flowers during the season.
...Years ago relatively large quantities of "Rose de Mai" were processed in the Grasse region by hydrodistillation for the production of fragrant rose water. To a limited extent this is still practiced. For this purpose 1000kilo of Rose centifolia are charged into a still and boiled in water until 1000 litres of water have distilled over. The water is not redistilled(cohobated) and represents the commercial "rose water." In the process of of distillation about 100 grams of direct rose oil separate in the florentine flask. This quantity corresponds to a yield of 1 kilo of rose oil per 10,000 kilos of Rosa centifolia as compared with 1 kilo of rose oil per 4000kilos of Rosa damascena in Bulgaria(It must,however, be kept in mind that in Bulgaria the rose water is repeatedly cohobated in order to recover the relatively large quantity of rose oil suspended and dissolved therein. The yields indicated above therefore do not represent the actual oil content of the two rose species. The rose oil obtained in the Grasse region is only a byproduct of the preparation of rose water; it is not usually sold on the market as a commercial product, but used by the essential oil houses in Grasse (mostly in perfume compositions).

F. A. Fluckiger visited the area in 1885 and commented on the rose de mai industry in Grasse. "At the time of the author's visit the enormous metal tanks and cemented cisterns for holding rose water (more) in the factory of M. Roure were ready for the reception of the products of the coming season, which, like that of the neroli flowers, is at its height in the month of May, when thousands of kilograms of rose leaves are passed daily into the stills. The rose oil collected in small quantity during the distillation of the rose water is probably equally as fine as the oil of roses from the Balkans or from India; but notwithstanding it grows in nearly the same geographical latitude, the rose in Provence produces far more of the worthless solid constituent, dissolved in the liquid portion, which alone is odorous. The question arises whether a change in the strain of the roses so largely cultivated in Grasse might not lead to an improvement in respect to the oil. However, the rose water has for a century found a good sale, so that Grasse is not under the necessity to seek for further progress. The oil at present obtained in the manufacture amounts to about one kilogram from each 12 000 kilograms of fresh rose petals; to completely satisfy the requirements of customers, oil is obtained from the Balkans. The author thinks that the manufacture in Grasse affords a favorable opportunity to determine the chemical properties, hitherto completely unknown, of the oil to which the rose owes its perfume."

Book  (2001)  Page(s) 175.  
 
At Grasse, on the contrary, it is the Centifolia (Rosa x centifolia) which is used. Two hybrids of this rose are cultivated. The "Rose de mai", called "Nabonnand", and that called "Lunier". The former, as its name indicates, was selected by Gilbert Nabonnand, of Golfe-Juan in 1895. The shrub, almost without prickles, has single blooms. Traditionally, it ¨was grown own root (however later it became usual to graft it on Rosa indica "major" in order to increase the output). The other cultivated "Rose de mai", though in smaller measure, is the variety called "Lunier", which produces very double blooms (up to hundred petals).

Book  (Mar 1998)  Page(s) 15.  
 
Rose de Mai At Grasse in France, a very few perfume-makers still use 'Rose de Mai', a hybrid produced by crossing R. x centifolia with R. gallica...

Magazine  (Sep 1951)  Page(s) 3. trimester, p. 90.  
 
[From "Le Rosier sur Côte d'Azur", by Joseph BACCI ALONE, Ingénieur Horticole, Chef du Service des Jardins de la Ville d'Antibes (A.-M.), pp. 82-91]
CULTURE DU ROSIER A PARFUM
Cette culture est pratiquée dans les Alpes-Maritimes, dans la région de Grasse, où l'industrie des parfums est la grande ressource apportant le travail aux cultivateurs et aux employés d'usines. La culture de la rose à parfum y est la plus importante après celle du jasmin. Ce sont les localités de la .Colle-sur-Loup, Grasse, Mouans-Sartoux, Saint-Paul, qui avec une quinzaine de voisines alimentent les parfumeries en roses ; les cultures occupent approximativement 700 hectares et ont donné 3 millions de kg. de fleurs par an.
Le rosier cultivé pour la parfumerie est le « Rosier de Mai », hybride issu de Rosa centifolia. Il existe une variété dite « à épines » et une autre « sans épines », dont la valeur culturale est à peu près identique. Certains travaux ayant pour but d'améliorer le type connu en Provence n'ont jamais donné de résultats pratiques. Ce rosier se multiplie par les drageons nombreux qui partent du pied. Des essais de greffage sur indica major n'ont pas été poursuivis. La plantation se fait en hiver sur un sol défoncé à 40 cm. aux distances de 1 m. x 50 cm. On donne des façons culturales et des 'fumures pour entretenir la végétation. La taille se fait en hiver jusqu'en mars. Au début on forme le pied en tête de saule d'où partent des rameaux. La taille vise à avoir beaucoup de fleurs. Elle est donc longue. On choisit sur le pied les rameaux les plus forts et on les conserve sur tout« leur longueur. Le nombre de ces longs bois varie avec la force du pied. Après la taille on fait l'« entortillage », qui consiste à entrelacer les sarments des pieds voisins, de façon à former une ligne continue d'arceaux, ce qui facilitera la cueillette. Les plantations durent 10 à 15 ans.
Cette production est d'un domaine spécial, et ne relève plus guère de l'horticulture, aussi ne l'avons-nous citée dans ces notes sur les emplois du Rosier dans le Midi que pour être à peu près complet.

Book  (1931)  Page(s) Vol. II, p. 685.  
 
A small amount of Otto of Roses has been produced in the South of France for at least 150 years, having been an established industry there before the French Revolution, but these earlier French ottos, almost entirely derived from R. centifolia, as a by-product in rose-water distillation, were consumed in the country itself. French roses were almost exclusively used for the manufacture of rosepomade and of rose-water, the French rosewater having the reputation of being superior in odour to any that can be produced in England. In spite of their unrivalled delicacy of fragrance, which always commanded a high place in the estimation of connoisseurs, until recent years the high price and lack of body of French ottos did not enable them to compete for general purposes with the Balkan concrete oil. When, however, Bulgaria joined the Central Empires, the French seized their opportunity, and methods of distillation were modernized, improved stills were erected and many other blooms than those of R. centifolia were experimented with, until now French otto has made itself a place in perfumery. Large plantations of roses have been laid down, and the output of otto is increasing steadily, 10,000 to 20,000 OZ. being at present the annual production. French chemists, botanists and horticulturists have studied the scientific aspect of the Rose, and in the new roses introduced, the chief object has been to improve the odour rather than the appear ance of the flower. The variety of rose mostly cultivated is the Rose de Mai, a hybrid of R. gallica and R. centifolia, bearing recurved prickles on the flowering branches. Two types are grown in the Grasse district, one more spiny than the other. They are mingled in the plantations, but the more spiny is preferred for less irrigated ground and the one with fewer thorns for wellwatered land. The bushes are planted half a metre apart, in rows one metre asunder. The first fortnight in May sees the rose harvest. The buds open gradually and are numerous, as each stalk bears a dense cluster and all the annual stems are well-covered. In the second half of May, after flowering, they are cut back and the complete pruning takes place in the following November. A rose plantation lasts from eight to ten years. Five thousand rose-trees will occupy about 1/2 acre of land and will produce about 2,200 lb. of flowers during the season. It is necessary to distil about 10,000 lb. of roses to obtain 1 lb. of oil. By the volatile solvents process a similar quantity will give anything up to 10 lb. of concrete. The rose-trees cultivated at Grasse in the last few years have been much attacked by disease, and in the opinion of some authorities the variety most grown hitherto would appear to be degenerating. The plantations are all more or less attacked by the rose rust parasite (Pragmidium subcorticium).

Book  (1892)  Page(s) 184.  
 
Dans le Midi, aux environs de Grasse, on cultive pour la parfumerie la Rose de Mai, variété de la Rose de Damas, qui ne fleurit qu'une fois dans l'année

Book  (1867)  Page(s) 512.  
 
There are many persons in France who grow flowers as an exclusive crop. It is their sole dependence. "The growing of flowers, for the production of fine essential oils and for medicinal purposes, is confined mainly to the southern portion of the department of Var, lying on the mediterranean, adjoining the late Italian, but now French, province of Nice. There are extensive factories in Nismes, Montpelier, Nice, and in Algeria, but the great center of this branch of industry is the town of Grasse, lying some few miles inland, and its sea-port, Cannes, the winter residence of Lord Brougham.
.....Rose water is also distilled in large quantities. A result of its distillation is an exceedingly small quantity of otto of rose of the very highest quality; it appears in small supernatant grains or drops, which are carefully skimmed off and rectified. It is superior to the Famous Kizanlik, or Turkish otto, and congeals, at ordinary temperatures, in beautiful, transparent crystals. The "Rose de Mai" (Rosa centifolia provincialis) or hundred-leaved Rose, is the one universally grown.