The New International Encyclopædia/Aroma

ARO′MA (Lat., Gk. ἄρωμα, aroma, spice, sweet herb). A term employed to designate a spicy or a pleasantly pungent odor. Thus we speak of the aroma of roast meat and of the aroma, or aromatic smell, of hyssop, mint, and other plants. Aromatic smells are very characteristic of some natural orders of plants, as Labiatæ (mint, etc.) and Compositæ (milfoil, etc.). They depend largely on the presence of volatile oils. See Nose; Smell; Aromatics.