Bosnian Immortal
The story:
It owes its French name, immortal, to the exceptional longevity of its inflorescences, which never seem to wither, even once picked. As we know, by drying them with their heads turned upside down, they can be kept for several years. If you look closely, it is the bracts, small leaves at the base of the flowers grouped in a flower head, that we owe this quality.
In perfumery:
The first smell that comes out of the immortelle is that of curry. Then, we notice that this pretty plant gives off other scents close to rose and chamomile. Honeyed, sweet, but also salty and spicy fragrances. Immortelle gives a real personality to floral compositions, chypre or amber. Immortelle is unfortunately not used much in fine perfumery, perhaps precisely because of its strong personality.
Olfaction aromatherapy:
Calming, de-stressing, psychostimulant; Cutaneous: anti-traumatic, anti-inflammatory, healing. This is the "arnica of aromatherapy". Perfumer and Flavourist, September 2018, Helichrysum italicum D.C oil from Balkans
The harvest of immortelle:
The stems are cut with pruning shears, leaving 10 to 15 cm of stem at the base. The first harvest is carried out during the flowering of the 3rd year of cultivation. Once the flowering period has passed, the harvest is less yielding.
Post-harvest: To dry, fresh flowers are left in piles, away from light, so that they do not lose their colour.
Production from Bosnia and Herzegovina:
According to the France Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the immortelle occupies between 1,000 and 1,500 ha and has experienced a significant boom since 2015. (FranceAgrimer-2017)
Nice to know:
The term "Helichrysum" comes from the Greek helios, sun, and chrysos, gold. The French name "Immortelle" comes from the exceptionally long storage of dry bouquets. As an anecdote, the Immortelle was also used in 1952 at the coronation of Elizabeth II of England in the form of small bouquets to symbolize the permanence of her reign.