The name of the perfume is less royal as it was the trend in the XIXth century and more a common name. Known as Royal fern, Fougère royale, or Osmonde royale, Osmunda regalis is one of the most imposing ferns (or flowering fern) in Europe and was common in XIXth century. Because subject to intensive agriculture it became rarer and now is protected in France. Also, it was very common in the Rambouillet forest near Paris (the same forest that gave the mossy notes of Chypre de Coty).
The idea of the ferns without scent is incorrect. Ferns do have a scent, but not all of them.
Dennstaedtia punctilobula, another imposing fern that might look like the royal fern for the non expert eye, is also known as the hay-scented fern. This fern's foliage smells of freshly mown grass, can be found in woodland and it turns golden in the fall.
What was the odor that Paul Parquet was trying to capture in his perfume? Was it the hay-scented fern and the forests in Rambouillet? Or was it the new mown hay from the south of France with its aromatic notes?
Tonka been was known and used in the XIXth century perfumery. On the surface of the bean you might see white coumarine crystals. First, perfumers used coumarine ex Tonka and later, when the coumarine was synthesized it became an option to the expensive Tonka beans. Both coumarine and Tonka show a sweet hay note, but also a gourmand almond side. The genius of Paul Parquet was to overdose the coumarine note in a type of bouquet known as new moon hay. The New Moon Hay was based on Tonka with additions of geranium (and some rose) and some orange flower among the main notes. The genius of Parquet was to modify the perfume by the use of a massive dose of coumarine plus an aromatic bouquet on top and above all to give a new name. Fougère Royale was probably a soap in the beginning and this would explain the use of coumarine instead of expensive Tonka and also the use of aromatic notes. 2 popular aromatic soaps in the XIXth century were Bouquet des Alpes (an aromatic bouquet with geranium) and Brown Windsor (aromatic thyme but very spicy clove). Paul Parquet took a classic idea from his era and transformed the perfumery.
Another plant that was used in perfumery (before it was forbidden) is Liatrix (Liatris odoratissima) - it has a strong coumarine note and the presence of coumarine was identified in 1859.
Lavender contains also coumarine but it was only in 1900 that this fact was known (also Melilotus and Asperula, another scented plants in the hay, also used in perfumery).
Coumarine was isolated in 1820 from Tonka and later synthesized by Perkin in 1868.
The real question is what was the Coumarine used by Paul Parquet in the first Fougère Royale and why did he? Was it the new synthetic coumarine, or was it the extracted coumarine (natural coumarine)? Reading the scientific papers of that era it is easy to notice that William Henry Perkin was a not just the men that gave mauve to Queen Victoria, but also a Star Chemist and coumarine was at least for several years the buzz molecule in the scientific world.
In a book on aromatic plants written by the Director of Pharmacy school in Paris in 1896, it is written that all the coumarine used for perfumery purposes is extracted from Liatris leaves. It also says that first coumarine for perfumery purposes was extracted from Tonka. Then the process was abandoned when Perkin discovered the synthesis of coumarine (1868) but this process was abandoned too, in favor of liatris. M. DeLaire has also a small contribution to the book, being quoted several times on perfumery subjects.
Fougère will become a family, but this will happen much later. For many years 3 types of perfumes coexisted - Fougère (fern), Foin coupé (hay), Trèfle - the last one after the discovery of amyl salycilate and maybe the final conclusion of all 3 old families was Canoe (Dana). The relation between amyl salicylate and coumarine is also symbolic. Amyl salicylate was used to express 2 things - the clover family (an old synonym is Treflol) and the orchid family. Ferns, and mainly the royal ferns are used as a growing medium in the cultivation of orchids. In XIXth century perfumery the marriage between "fern" and "orchid" gave (a conceptual level) the clover family (trèfle).
Ayapana is an exotic plant, also en vogue in the colonial XIXth century. It is very aromatic and contains coumarine and gave name to a Guerlain perfume contemporary with Fougère Royale.
But Fougère Royale is not just the ancestor of all masculine fougères. In this perfume the coumarine smells herbal and hay. But it has also a very sweet note that, if it is modified in an oriental direction you arrive close to Emeraude. While the Coty creation is an oriental with an aromatic top note, it was perceived rather different before WWII. Today we would say an Oriental Fougère (in those days the heavy animalic amber was the reference) but Emeraude was more complicated and complex than Fougère Royale.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
