The Tilia fragrance in a short story, has anyone used that

Hello,

I’m writing a fantasy short story quite dark, as usual and there’s a scene where my main character walks through a garden at night, and I wanted the sensations to be rooted in something concrete… not just ‘it was cold’ or vague stuff like that. So I got it into my head to centre the whole description around a scent, and I thought of the scent of Tilia, you know, lime blossom that slightly sweet, almost heavy scent that clings to the warm air. It seemed perfect to me for creating an atmosphere that’s both soothing and slightly oppressive at the same time… like the character smelling something sweet but knowing it’s not normal, that it’s a warning sign. The problem is, I don’t know if the scent of Tilia is something readers will actually visualise, or if it’ll just go over everyone’s heads. Do you think olfactory references in storytelling grab the reader’s attention, or do they just confuse them?

I love the idea of olfactory references. I think it's an underused sense in fiction a lot of the time. Your description of the scent is lovely. As long as you describe it well enough that readers who have never smelled Tilia before, I see no problem!

It also just reminded me of when there was some uproar over a student's PhD thesis being on 'Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose' which some people thought was a silly idea. There's definitely a lot to be explored in this area!