Viburnum carlesii Hemsl. - Adoxaceae - arrowwood, Korean spice viburnum, Wohlriechender Schneeball
Deciduous shrub, up to 2m high, native to Japan, Korea, and southeast China, naturalised in Ohio, USA; leaves ovate, serrate, dark green, infrequently flushed with copper, turning dull to wine-red or burgundy in fall; flower buds striking pink-red, open to showball-like clusters of very fragrant pink-changing-to-white flowers; fruits berry-like red drupes turning black when ripe.
Viburnum carlesii (Kew) Viburnum carlesii (MBG)
„It has a beautiful, intoxicating and almost narcotic aroma that is a blend of spice, balsam, vanilla
and tobacco… The items that are responsible for this overall profile of Viburnum are: Isoeugenol, eugenol, para cresol, vinyl guaiacol, methyl eugenol, methoxy eugenol and methyl nicotinate. Together they form the foundation, backbone and spicy narcotic almost intoxicating aroma of Virburnum… The small amount of Indole is extremely effective…“
[Buccellato, Felix. „Custom Essence Inc. 53 Veronica Avenue Somerset, NJ 08873 Subject: Viburnum Carlesii'Aurora'.“ (2013)]
 benzaldehyde |  methyl benzoate (R=Me) |  indole |  isoeugenol |  para-cresol |
The fragrant flowers have a beautiful odor reminiscent of ylang ylang. Main components of the flower scent (SPME/GC-MS) were benzaldehyde, methyl benzoate and indole together with methyl salicylate, estragole, eugenol isoeugenol, and benzyl benzoate. Minor components were p-methylanisole (0.16%) and p-cresol (0.14%) e.g.
basenotes Koreanspice Viburnum (V carlesii) GC/MS 20250509
Viburnum carlesii CC BY-SA 3.0 Sgerbic (2021) Wikimedia Commons