What Is Petrichor? The Smell of Rain and the Story Behind Our Name

You know the smell: the first rain after a long dry stretch, when the whole desert seems to breathe out. That smell has a name, and it's the name of our company.

What does petrichor mean?

Petrichor is the earthy smell that rises when rain falls on dry ground. Two Australian scientists, Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Thomas, named it in a 1964 paper in the journal Nature (CSIRO). They built the word from two Greek parts: petra, meaning stone, and ichor, the fluid said to flow in the veins of the gods.

Where does the smell come from?

Bear and Thomas found a yellowish oil trapped in dry rocks and soil. Moisture pushes that oil out and into the air (Country Life). Even a rise in humidity before a storm can start it, which is why you can sometimes smell rain coming (ScienceAlert).

Why does the high desert smell so strong after rain?

In the Great Basin, much of what you smell is sagebrush. Sagebrush oil is rich in aromatic compounds like camphor and cineole, though the mix varies a lot from plant to plant and place to place (Swor et al., 2023). After rain, that sharp, clean scent hangs over the hills.

Why did we name our company Tahoe Petrichor?

Honestly? Nerd science. After a desert rain, a lot of what you smell is sagebrush giving off its oils into the wet air. Camphor, cineole, that sharp, clean scent. We distill those same oils from Tahoe Basin sagebrush and put them in our Releaf Rollie. So every time you open one, you’re getting a little bit of that after-the-storm smell.

I'm a lifelong local, and I've made my own skincare for as long as I can remember. I later earned a master's degree in herbal medicine so my products would rest on the science, not just tradition.

How does that smell end up in our products?

That sagebrush oil gives the Releaf Rollie its scent, along with locally harvested yarrow. People often tell us it smells like a walk through the Great Basin desert.

Bring the high desert home

Shop the Releaf Rollie, or sign up for our emails to get notes on local plants and new small batches.

What smell means home to you? Tell us in the comments.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.