Description
Woody plants native to Australia, having pinnate leaves and yellow
flower clusters. The plant has become acclimated to the French
and Italian Riviera, where it was transplanted in the early 1800s.
It is cultivated for ornamental (flowers) and extractive purposes.
The flowers are the part used. Mimosa has a delicate, sweet, floral
odor.
The derivatives are the concrete, which is extracted from flowers
in approximately 0.7 to 1.1% yields using petroleum ether, and
the absolute, prepared from the concrete in approximately 20 to
25% yields. The concrete is a pale-yellow wax with a fatty, floral,
slightly sweet odor, reminiscent of beeswax. The absolute is a
syrupy, viscous, amber-colored or yellowish liquid with a scent
similar to that of flowers.
Chemical Properties
Mimosa absolute is obtained from the blossoms of the mimosa trees Acacia
dealbata Link and Acacia mearnsii De Wild. (Mimosaceae), which grow, for
example, in the forests of Southern France and in Morocco.
The absolute is a yellowish-brown liquid with a slightly green, floral odor
and extremely high tenacity. The odor-determining constituents, for example,
phenylethyl alcohol or methyl anisate, are contained only in very small concentrations.
Annual production is only some few tons. The main part is produced in
Morocco and, in small quantities, also in France and India. Mimosa absolute is
used mainly in fine fragrances as a floral fixative.
Chemical Properties
Mimosa absolute is prepared from the concrete in approximately 20 to 25% yield. It is sweeter and more natural flowerlike, and less spicy than cassie. The concrete prepared with petroleum extract is a pale-yellow wax with a fatty, floral, slightly sweet
odor, reminiscent of beeswax
Physical properties
The absolute is a syrupy, viscous, amber-colored or yellowish liquid.
Occurrence
Found in the flowers of Acacia decurrens var. dealhata (Fam. Leguminosae) (Guenther, 1952; Naves, 1974).
Preparation
From the concrete of mimosa (Guenther, 1952)
Definition
Extractives and their physically modified derivatives. Acacia decurrens, Leguminosae.
