Picea mariana/Black Spruce

pH 4.2–4.4

Aroma and Taste The head note is air in a winter forest: cool, dry, and redolent with complex evergreen odors and frost. This is quickly taken over by a wet, slightly musty resin aroma both akin to and quite different from the remarkable odor of the oil or tree. The taste, like that of all conifer waters, has a dry, sawdust edge to it, like chewing on a branch or twig, although it is not unpleasant. It also has the distinctly minty resin taste unique to the boreal conifers of the spruce, pine, and fir families.

Stability and Shelf Life Very stable. Easily lasts two years, although after that point some particulate matter or a faint gray color may develop. Tests have shown this is not necessarily related to any contamination and is just a phenomenon related to the tree waters.

Properties and Applications The number-one choice for the adrenal glands; use in combination with the essential oil at the change of each season for a three-week protocol. Consume thirty milliliters of hydrosol in one and one-half liters of water daily and apply fifteen drops of the undiluted essential oil to the adrenal/kidney areas on the back during your morning shower, then rinse off with cool to cold water. You will be amazed at how good you feel. The hydrosol, used one drop at a time on acupuncture points for the adrenals, has an extraordinary effect. My TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) therapist says it feels like electricity running through her fingers as she touches the points. In high-stress periods both the hydrolate and the oil can be used as an aromatic pick-me-up that can replace afternoon or evening coffee breaks. It has been suggested that in addition to regenerating the adrenals, black spruce is supportive to thymus activity, although perhaps the thymus is responding to the immune-system boost from the revived adrenals, or perhaps both organs are supported; we just don’t know for sure.

Used in a cold double compress (cold hydrosol cloth followed by warm, dry wool wrap) or bath with Scotch pine, it is highly effective for relief of pain and inflammation. It is, as yet, unproven whether the waters have the same cortisone-like effects as the corresponding oils, but indications based on results are promising. Try it for carpal tunnel, repetitive strain injury (RSI), joint complaints, back pain, muscle aches and swelling, and so on. An odd side effect of both the oil and the water is that it spruces up the bustline, adding visibly and not insignificantly to both the size and the tone of the breast tissue. Combine black spruce with peppermint hydrosol for a daily décolleté mist, but remember that the effect is not permanent and will disappear a few weeks after cessation of daily applications.

A stimulating and restorative body spray and a good aftershave, black spruce connects us with nature and the ancient wisdom of the trees. Combine it with cedarwood for use on pets in general: care of the coat, bath preparations, or as a spray for fleas and ticks. Animals tend to relate strongly to the odor.

This is an important hydrosol for the committed therapist.