Labdanum comes from the rockrose, a low shrub that grows on dry Mediterranean hillsides. In summer heat its leaves give off a sticky brown resin that shields the plant from sun and drought. That resin, once collected and cleaned, is the material used in perfume.

HĀVN sources it from Cyprus and from Spain, two related rockroses. For most of its history it was gathered off the animals that grazed the hillsides. The resin stuck to the goats' coats, and it was combed out of the hair by hand. In the eastern Mediterranean it was also raked from the shrubs with a tool strung with leather straps, then scraped clean.

It smells warm and resinous, leathery, with a faint animal edge underneath. Labdanum is the base most traditional amber accords are built on.