Printed from smellbook.com/smells/moss. This printout keeps the entry for Moss itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
Categories and types group entries for browsing; they are editorial, not evidence. How smells are grouped.
A cool, damp, green-earthy smell associated with shaded ground, bark and moist forest surfaces.
Its type, Source, means the smell is named after “a physical origin that can contribute a smell”; it is not an evidence source, such as a study or a book. The origin page for Moss (the plant, not this smell entry) lists every smell recorded as coming from it.
Cool, damp and green, moss smells like shaded earth with a soft, slightly bitter freshness. EDITORIAL
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Links SmellBook records for this entry: what it comes from, where you meet it, related smells and comparisons. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors. Nothing here is a ranking.
QUESTIONS ABOUT MOSS
Cool, damp and green, moss smells like shaded earth with a soft, slightly bitter freshness. There is a mineral, almost stony note beneath the greenery, and after rain the smell becomes fuller and richer. It is quiet rather than loud and stays close to the surface it grows on. Moss is easily confused with wet soil or forest floor, though it feels cleaner and greener.
It is found in shaded woodland, on wet stone walls, on tree bark and along stream banks, especially after rain or in damp weather. Old garden paths and shady corners of walls offer quieter versions.
Typical settings: shaded forest, wet stone, tree bark.
SmellBook links it to 2 place pages: see them in Connections.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Volatile constituents of mosses. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
The scientific study behind this evidence is chemistry or emission work, not a study of how the smell is perceived.
Moss is an environmental source profile and should not be confused with commercial moss-style fragrance accords.
SmellBook records one written comparison with other smells: see it in Connections.
Words that are easy to mix up: What is the difference between earthy and mineral? and How do green and herbal differ?
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Volatile constituents of mosses
Essential oils distilled from mosses of five genera contained generally smaller amounts of volatiles than liverworts but a similar range of terpenoids, together with more abundant and varied aliphatic compounds.
Distilled extracts of a few moss genera; it does not describe the smell of mossy places.
How this was found: Chemical composition. Compounds were identified or measured, without any assessment of their odour. Source: primary study; chemistry work.
Yücel Saritas et al.
DOI 10.1016/s0031-9422(01)00069-3Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
MY SMELLBOOK · LOCAL ONLY
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MAP THIS SMELL
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Moss.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
A state says how an entry is met, such as wet, aged or roasted. It does not create a new smell, and it adds no scientific fact by itself: states marked EDITORIAL come from the entry's own records, and only those marked VERIFIED are reported by a VERIFIED claim.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0061 — Mosssmellbook:smell:mosshttps://smellbook.com/smells/mossSmellBook. (2026). Moss (revision 3, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:moss. https://smellbook.com/smells/moss@misc{smellbook_moss_r3,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Moss},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 3, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:moss},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/moss}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-moss-r3 TI - Moss AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 3 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/moss N1 - SB-0061; smellbook:smell:moss; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/moss ER -
The citation names revision 3 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Moss is an environmental source profile and should not be confused with commercial moss-style fragrance accords.
Other entries whose editors linked to Moss:
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30.
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗