If you’re wondering what is the word for the smell of rain, you’re not alone. We’ve all stepped out on the first rainy day following a dry spell to deeply inhale the wonderful parfum de pluie, the smell of rain.

But what is the word for the smell of rain?

What is Petrichor?

Petrichor is the name for the smell of rain following a dry spell or drought.

What Causes the Smell of Rain?

Petrichor is generated from a combination of volatile plant oils and geosmin, a soil dwelling bacteria released with the contact of rain water and soil plus air flow.

Of course petrichor doesn’t just happen after a drought, but it’s especially noticeable then. For a gardener, the invigorating smell of rain is all the sweeter because it signals a reprieve from watering.

Petrichor has an earthy, pleasant odor that arises from the meeting of rain and terrain, especially when following a warm, dry period.

Petrichor is the Scent of a Molecule Named Geosmin

While the idea of a delightfully refreshing aroma arising from bacterial soil microbes doesn’t sound appealing, gardeners know that the healthiest soils contain lots of healthy microbes. Healthy soil is to the garden what a healthy gut is to a human: essential for optimal health.

Geosmin is a natural bicyclic terpene with an earthy odor. According to The Merck Index, it is the “major volatile component of beet essence.^[1]https://www.acs.org/molecule-of-the-week/archive/g/geosmin.html#:~:text=Geosmin%20is%20a%20natural%20bicyclic,as%20low%20as%205%20ppt.

Soil with good bacteria and microbes is the healthy gut of the garden.

When raindrops hit the ground, these particular soil microbes called Streptomyces, release the molecule geosmin that’s actually responsible for the smell of rain.

“So when you’re saying you smell damp soil, actually what you’re smelling is a molecule being made by a certain type of bacteria,”
~Prof Mark Buttner, head of molecular microbiology at the John Innes Centre explained to BBC.

SOURCE: ^[2]https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44904298

Antibiotics from Soil Microbes…?

It’s intriguing to learn that some antibiotics are actually made from Streptomycin. Hmm! So what if, when we step outside and deeply inhale the petrichor, we’re breathing in nature’s medicine? We’re actually ingesting Streptomycin molecules as natural antibiotics, akin to microdosing!

Depression Alleviating Soil Bacterium

Further, studies show that working with the soil is healthy and healing. In fact gardening therapy is a thing. A soil bacterium called Mycobacterium vaccae, has been found to help with depression and anxiety. M. Vaccae helps to elevate our feel good hormones and alleviate depression equal to antidepressants but without the side effects.

For more on natural remedies for stress and anxiety.

The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.

~Wendell Berry, novelist, poet, farmer, b.8/5/1934

Petrichor Name Origin – Named After Greek Gods

• petra – meaning rock or stone
• ichor – the golden fluid flowing in the veins of the immortal Greek gods

The unique odor of rain was named petrichor by Australian mineral chemists, Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Grenfell Thomas in 1960.

The chemists labeled the smell of rain after the Greek words ‘ichor’, for the blood flowing through the veins of the Greek gods, and petra, for rock or stone.

This roughly translates as the fluid essence from rock and stone.(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/petrichor))^[3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor^[4]https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/petrichor

This could also be intended to describe the confluence of liquids and solids, such as rain and earth, spirit and matter.

Weather means more when you have a garden. There’s nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans.

~Marcelene Cox, American writer; no other info found; (please let us know if you find her biographical information)

The Smell of Rain

We know we can purchase the fragrance of just about any of our favorite flowers. Beyond perfumes, there are essential oils that we can add to our favorite carrier oils, candles, soaps, creams and balms.

Growing up in Hawaii, one of my favorite flowers and scents is plumeria. I add that essential oil to my lotions as well as to water in a spray bottle to mist my hair before braiding it.

But did you know you can purchase essential oils designed to mimic petrichor, the scent of rain? Yes! If you’re making soaps, candles or lotions, you might try some petrichor fragrance or rain scented essential oil.

It probably doesn’t include the microbes, but it can invoke the positive association with fresh rain.

Living In the Woods

We’re living and gardening in a magnificent green rainforest. While woods mean less garden space with sunlight, there are many blessings to living in the womb of the woods. For almost half the year we’re able to sleep with windows open for healthy fresh air flow.

Whenever it rains, the petrichor scent and rain drenched slumbers make for wonderful sleep when you’re cozy and dry indoors.

Petrichor:  a Fragrance by Any Other Name

It’s the word for that distinct smell of rain touching down on earth after a long, hot dry spell.  Petrichor is like the fragrance of joy. The automatic human response is to breathe it in deeply… to make it a part of us. In so doing, we are inhaling healthy molecules, like natural antibiotics.

We are meant to be connected with the natural environment, for we are a part of it.

Petrichor is the name for the smell of rain.

A Positive New Rain Song

When my kids were little and we were going through the children’s stories, songs and jingles, I became aware that some of these actually involved negative programming.

Take the Rain, Rain, Go Away, song. Rain gets a bad rap and is never really welcomed. So I rewrote the song for some positive programming around rain, but sung to that original tune.

Here’s that song as published on our website for positivity and creativity, in an article on reframing, and sung to the tune of the old Rain, Rain song, which appears to have originated in the 16th century. Time for a new one, don’t you think?

A New RAIN, RAIN, Song — “Rain, Rain, Welcome Here”❣️

RAIN, RAIN, WELCOME HERE

Rain, Rain, welcome here
Plants and trees all shout “Hurray!”
Rain, Rain, welcome here,
We can play inside today.

Rain, Rain, welcome here,
Rivers and Streams are calling you.
Rain, Rain, welcome here,
We can sing and dance with you.

Rain, Rain, welcome here,
Mother Earth is thirsty too.
Rain, Rain, welcome here,
We love sun and we love you.

~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com

WHO MAKES A GARDEN

Whoever makes a garden has oh so many friends:
The glory of the morning, the dew when daylight ends,
For rain and wind and sunshine, and dew and fertile sod.
And he who makes a garden, works hand and hand with God.

Douglas Malloch, poet, short stories, editor-American Lumberman 1877-1938

You can find this complete poem and lots more garden poetry here.

Stop and Smell the Rain

Remember the saying – that sage advice to “stop and smell the flowers”?

Well, whenever it starts to rain, be sure to stop to smell the rain. Whatever you’re doing — if at all possible — step outside, breathe in deeply and smell the lovely rain… the petrichor of the earth!

Wishing you great gardens and happy harvests.