Ottoman
Rosa damascena
Damask rose · Damaszener-Rose · Şam gülü
Cultivated in Anatolia for over a thousand years. Today, Isparta supplies roughly sixty percent of the world's rose oil.
The Damask rose is the most studied Anatolian plant of beauty practice. It is harvested between first light and mid-morning — never later. After the sun rises high, the oil withdraws into the plant, and the day's harvest is decided.
Rose water and rose oil have been Ottoman court cosmetics for centuries; the Iznik blue-and-white tiles often picture this very flower. Today the Isparta valley produces ~60 % of the global rose oil, distilled in the same copper alembics as a hundred years ago.
Properties: gently astringent, soothing, deeply aromatic. Traditional uses span skin tonic, perfumery, bath, and ritual sweetening of food.
A monthly journal letter follows on this plant — subscribe in the footer.