South African Essential Oils
Here at Floracopeia, we’re proud to share with you a large selection of extraordinary essential oils and aromatic treasures produced in the southern Africa region.
The countries of the southern African region are blessed with an abundance of aromatic and medicinal plants growing in unique ecosystems not found in other parts of the world. At the same time, the suffering of poverty, AIDS, and social disturbances is widespread throughout this region.
Stimulated by a growing global market in herbs and aromatic products, a new essential oil industry is developing in South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and other countries. They utilize the botanical resources and ethnobotanical knowledge available in the region for local economic development and plant-based healthcare.
At the moment, there are about 33 distilleries in the southern Africa region distilling a variety of cultivated and wild-harvested aromatic plants. Floracopeia is currently working with one of the primary organizers and distributors for those distilleries — to offer common and well-established aromatic products and develop new ones.
Most of the cultivated essential oils are either certified organic through international certifying agencies such as Eco-Cert, or non-certified organic — meaning they’re organically produced, but have yet to receive full documentation. The remainder of the oils are ethically wild-crafted from healthy ecosystems.
All of these essential oil projects are linked directly to poverty alleviation programs established for the dual purpose of caretaking local environments while producing sustainable economic benefits.
Our Floracopeia oils from southern Africa oils include citruses, florals and the carrier oil Jojoba.
Our citrus oils from this project currently include sweet orange essential oil, and lemon essential oil. These oils are cold pressed and certified organic. Aromatically, they have extraordinary freshness and a full range of bright and rich citrus notes that surpass typical commercial oils found on the market. Many of these oils are produced in Zimbabwe as a means of bringing agricultural prosperity to this country.
Our eucalyptus essential oils include a unique rose-scented eucalyptus oil (E. mccarthurii), peppermint-scented eucalyptus oil (E. dives), lemon-scented eucalyptus oil (E. citriodora), and the more medicinal species of Eucalyptus radiata pure eucalyptus oil, and globulus eucalyptus essential oil. The unique floral-scented oils are produced by the trees themselves and are not the result of mixing other fragrances into the eucalyptus oils. Some of these oils are only available in limited quantities as special releases throughout the year!
Our African floral oils include oils that are indigenous to the region, as well as oils that have traditionally been cultivated and distilled in Europe and India but are now being produced in countries such as South Africa. Floracopeia’s Ylang Ylang essential oil comes from the rainforest of Madagascar, where it is ecologically harvested as a sustainable agroforestry crop; the grade that we offer is “complete,” meaning that the oil coming from various stages of distillation is combined together rather than being sold as different grades. Our rose geranium essential oil is produced by a farmer who started his farm with nothing but his wife and a dream in a small cabin on undeveloped land. Through several hardships they have persevered and are now able to fully support community outreach and are contributing to the upliftment of the region. This success is largely thanks to the profitable nature of rose geranium essential oil, vs. subsistence farming. Neroli-petitgrain essential oil is a distillation of both the flowers and the leaves of neroli grown and harvested in Egypt.
We also carry medicinal florals from South Africa. Our Helichrysum essential oils from S. Africa are a very important floral. These rare, unique varietals of immortelle are found in our Helichrysum Essential Oil Blend, as well as Flower of The Sun. The rosemary verbenone essential oil that Floracopeia carries is a softer take on the garden variety, but just as medicinally effective.
