Clover is what most makes summer meadows smell like summer 
meadows.  Two species in particular are responsible for the 
familiar fragrance: Melilotus officinalis, or Yellow Sweet 
Clover; and Melilotus alba, or White Sweet Clover.  

Like the low-growing little Trifolium clovers you find 
growing in your lawn (the ones people look for "lucky" four-
leaf specimens of), these two species are members of the 
legume family.  But these clovers are tall weedy-looking 
plants with spikes of tiny flowers.  Melilotus officinalis 
has spikes of yellow flowers and grows up to five feet tall.  
Melilotus alba has spikes of white flowers and may reach 
heights of up to ten feet.  Both plants have three-lobed 
leaves, but it really looks like three separate leaves 
grouped together.  They are Old World plants that became 
well established in North America long ago.  Both are 
extremely common weeds, and may be freely harvested.  

The scent these plants' leaves give off is so strong that 
you can tell instantly when there's some nearby.  I recently 
found a clump of Melilotus alba growing out of some 
evergreen shrubs on our property.  The plants - a dozen 
separate plants in all - towered over me.  I cut the stalks 
just below the tops of the shrubs, and brought them into our 
garage, which suffers from garage-a-tosis in hot weather.  
The leaves release a flood of pure essence of midsummer.  
You just want to keep on inhaling.  

This is powerful stuff.  I'm going to collect a few sheaves 
and dry them in our basement.  I'd like to see how long the 
scent lasts.  Has anyone here sucessfully brought any other
outdoor scents indoors?  

2 responses total.

We dry our sheets and pillowcases outside in good weather, and they are
both "scratchy" - a particulary pleasant scratchiness - and smell of the
outdoors. I don't know what is the source of the aroma - I don't notice
that the outdoors themselves particularly smell that way. Perhaps it is
the contrast with the smell of the indoors? But whatever it is, perhaps
traces of clover aroma and ozone, it reminds me of fresh air and sunshine. 

Could it be the smell of sunshine breaking down cotton?  We've noticed
the same thing.

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