![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geosmin (JEE-oh-smuhn) - n., a volatile, organic compound (C12H22O) that is formed especially by soil-dwelling cyanobacteria and is responsible for the earthy smells of beetroot and petrichor.
Tho' in the latter, it's one of many components -- locally, volatiles from creosote dominate. The name was coined in 1965 by biochemist Nancy Gerber and biologist Hubert A. Lechevalier using the Ancient Greek roots geō-, earth + osmḗ, smell.
---L.
Tho' in the latter, it's one of many components -- locally, volatiles from creosote dominate. The name was coined in 1965 by biochemist Nancy Gerber and biologist Hubert A. Lechevalier using the Ancient Greek roots geō-, earth + osmḗ, smell.
---L.
