Deep green, vegetal, peculiar
 
I wish everyone could be handed this on a blotter without context and asked to describe it. Away from the name and vegetative implications, this is a rather sultry and dense absolute with a fascinating green olive oiliness. For the creative perfumer, the uses of this Egyptian variety of Cynara cardunculus are sort of boundless: I have used it in a totally vegan castoreum replacer, for example, and a colleague has even managed to weave it into an osmanthus soliflore.