Pemou Materia Medica

Pemou oil is derived from Fokiena Hodginsii, a large tree, native to southeastern China, west to northern Laos and Vietnam’s northern province of Dai Son (in the central highlands) and Lam Dong province (in the south). The Vietnamese believe that the tree brings eternal life.Nowadays the tree has become very rare in the wild.

The tree’s highly aromatic essential oil is concentrated in its roots. Pemou oil, sometimes referred to as Siam wood oil, is produced via steam distillation of the roots and stumps of previously logged Fokiena hodginsii trees. It is red in color (this is apparent only with a larger quantity of the oil; smaller quantities appear to be a pale yellow red) and has a rich, warm, sweet, woody aroma with a distinct nut-like fragrance woven into its pallet. The oil contains primarily sesquiterpenes with the major constituents being fokeinol and nerolidiol (70% of the composition of the oil). The oil has a strong fixative property. Pemou oil is used as a fragrance in cosmetics including soap.

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