Did you know? Plant scents

Common scents

Scents aren't only in the flowers of plants, many plants produce smells from other areas too. Here are some of the most common scents, that aren't produced from flowers.

• oranges, lemons and hops have scented oil in the skin of their fruit
• cinnamon, frankincense and myrrh have scent in their bark
• ginger and liquorice come from the root of the plant
• strongly-scented cloves are just unopened flower buds
• nutmeg, mace, mustard, chillies, cardamom, cumin and pepper are simply scented seeds
• mint, sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil and lemon balm have scented leaves, which we often use in cooking

Interesting facts

• Some arums, stapelia and the largest flower in the world - the rafflesia - smell like rotting meat! The reason for this horrible whiff is to attract flies, which carry their pollen to other flowers.
• The most common scent made by plants is lemon. Apart from an actual lemon, you can find this smell in lemon grass, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon-scented geranium, lemon gum and lemon thyme as well.
• Some plants need moths to pollinate them. They grow pale flowers whose scent is very strong in the evening and hardly noticeable in the daytime.
• Scents are taken from plants mainly as essential oils, which are then used to make perfume. Some perfumes are a mixture of 50 different smells!
• The ancient Egyptians were the first people to write down information about perfume. They used many perfumes as offerings to their gods. And they also used them to help preserve their mummies. The ancient Egyptians lived between 2,500 and 5,000 years ago.

Activity

Look at the flowers of some mint, sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil and lemon balm. Can you see that they are similar?

Discover more plant scents in our Common scents project.

Our Plants to try section has great suggestions for growing your own aromatic plants.