Cedar oil, also known as cedarwood oil, is an essential oil derived from various types of conifers, most in the

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

or cypress botanical families. It is produced from the foliage, and sometimes the wood, roots, and stumps left after logging of trees for timber. It has many uses in

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

, and

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

ry, and while the characteristics of oils derived from various species may vary, all have some degree of

pesticidal Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lamp ...

effects.

Sources and characteristics

Although termed cedar or cedarwood oils, the most important oils are produced from

distilling Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...

wood of a number of different junipers and cypresses (of the family Cupressaceae), rather than true cedars (of the family

Pinaceae The Pinaceae, or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly kn ...

). Similar oils are distilled, pressed or chemically extracted in small quantities from wood, roots, and leaves from plants of the genera ''

Platycladus ''Platycladus'' is a monotypic genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, ''Platycladus orientalis'', also known as Chinese thuja, Oriental arborvitae, Chinese arborvitae, biota or Orie ...

'', '' Cupressus'', ''

Taiwania ''Taiwania'', with the single living species ''Taiwania cryptomerioides'', is a large coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Etymology ''Taiwania'' means 'from Taiwan', while ''Cryptomerioides'' means 'resembling ''Cryptomeria''.G ...

'', and ''

Calocedrus ''Calocedrus'', the incense cedar (alternatively spelled incense-cedar), is a genus of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae first described as a genus in 1873. It is native to eastern Asia and western North America. The generic n ...

''. The cedarwood oil of the ancients, in particular the Sumerians and Egyptians, was derived from the

Cedar of Lebanon ''Cedrus libani'', the cedar of Lebanon or Lebanese cedar (), is a species of tree in the genus cedrus, a part of the pine family, native to the mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. It is a large evergreen conifer that has great religi ...

, a true cedar native to the northern and western mountains of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. The once-mighty Cedar of Lebanon forests of antiquity have been almost entirely eradicated, and today no commercial oil extraction is based on this species. One of the elements found in many cedar trees is

cedrol Cedrol is a sesquiterpene alcohol found in the essential oil of conifers (cedar oil), especially in the genera '' Cupressus'' (cypress) and ''Juniperus'' (juniper). It has also been identified in '' Origanum onites'', a plant related to oregano ...

. The amount of cedrol in a species of cedar affects its pesticidal effect on insects. As part of ancient Egyptian funerary practices, cedar oil was used in

embalming Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them (in its modern form with chemicals) to forestall decomposition. This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for public or private viewing as part of the funeral ...

, which in effect helped to keep insects from disturbing the body. Cedarwood oil is a mixture of organic compounds considered generally safe by the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

as a food additive

preservative A preservative is a substance or a chemical that is added to products such as food products, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, paints, biological samples, cosmetics, wood, and many other products to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or by ...

. The United States EPA "does not expect

oxic {{Short pages monitor