The nose
How they smell
A stillroom is a nose as much as a cup. Crush a leaf. These are the scents of this cupboard — petal, hay, camphor, lemon, musk.
Coumarin, maple, a dried sheaf.
4 plants
Hay & vanilla
Life everlasting
Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium
Sweet, aromatic, maple-syrup or hay when crushed. Strongest when dried, or on a warm day in the field.
Hay & vanilla
Sweet vernal grass
Anthoxanthum odoratum
Sweet hay with vanilla or coumarin, especially when cut or dried. Fresh and aromatic — the smell of a meadow after the scythe.
Hay & vanilla
Wild vanilla
Carphephorus odoratissimus
Sweet vanilla from the leaf, especially when wilted or dried. Aromatic, lasting, the old scenting-leaf of a tobacco pouch.
Hay & vanilla
Woodruff
Galium odoratum
Little smell when fresh. Wilted or dried it becomes sweet vanilla and fresh hay — coumarin — grassy-sweet and lasting. The May-wine leaf.
Traditional kitchen and folk use only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are pregnant, nursing, on medicine, or unwell, ask a clinician before drinking anything as a remedy.