Why Fresh-Cut Grass Smells So Good

That fresh cut grass smell? You are basically smelling a plant SOS...

and it is weirdly satisfying. When you mow, you rip open plant cells,

like popping thousands of tiny scent balloons. The plant instantly makes green leaf

volatiles, fast smell molecules your nose can detect at extremely low levels.

One famous one is cis-3-hexenal, part of that sharp green scent. For the plant,

this smell is not perfume, it is a distress signal. Nearby plants can

hear it chemically and start prepping defenses, like making bitter compounds or warning

signals. And sometimes these smells can even help attract predators of the insects