I was showing off my first Sweet Violets today and one of my victims couldn't smell them - generally the scent blows
your socks off. I wonder how common this is. I know certain flavours and scents are undetectable by some people but the
Violet one is new to me.

Rod

Rod wrote:
I was showing off my first Sweet Violets today and one of my victims
couldn't smell them - generally the scent blows your socks off. I
wonder how common this is. I know certain flavours and scents are
undetectable by some people but the Violet one is new to me.

Rod

The wild sweet violet, viola odorata, has a 'scent numbing' component
which dampens the smelling sense so that it seems that the scent has
quickly died. This was used in them thar olden days when the violets
were spread on the floor of churches, etc. and when crushed, their
odorific properties rendered the crusher oblivious to all the the
other smells that might have been around.

--
ned

The message
from "Rod" contains these words:

I was showing off my first Sweet Violets today and one of my victims
couldn't smell them - generally the scent blows
your socks off. I wonder how common this is. I know certain flavours
and scents are undetectable by some people but the
Violet one is new to me.

I wonder if that's why some, like me, think violets have lost their
old scent? Oh dear :-( I definitely used to be able to smell them. ISTR
it was Vera who first mentioned that.

Janet