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.
Bark, clove, sweet fern.
3 plants
Warm spice
Cinnamon
Cinnamomum verum
Warm, sweet, spicy, and woody like bark. Dry and aromatic — not the sugar of a bun, the wood of the stick.
Warm spice
Sweet fern
Comptonia peregrina
Sweet, spicy, aromatic — cinnamon, maple, warm cereal, or mild clove, with a woodsy green. Released when the fronds are brushed or crushed.
Warm spice
Sweet marjoram
Origanum majorana
Warm, sweet, a mild herbal-spice with a soft floral or piney undertone. Gentler and sweeter than oregano.
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.