Why NYC's Central Park Smells Like Cloves Some Days

If you sniff something, say something: A New Yorker who had a clove encounter did just that.

"Any idea why all of Central Park West from (81st) to 86 street smells like nutmeg and cloves?" one curious lifelong resident tweeted Monday morning.

The spicy scent is actually connected to a matter of life and death — of pesky weeds.

"The smell was an organic herbicide, acetic acid and clove oil, to control weeds in granite block pavement," a park spokeswoman told the Daily News.

"The Central Park Conservancy uses this as an alternative to conventional pesticides."

Weeds compete for nutrients with "the magnificent stand of elms and oaks that surround the Park," the Conservancy previously noted.

"To protect these trees, we apply clove oil directly to the weeds a few times and see fewer weeds all summer long."

The application of the environmentally friendly weed whacker is done from 4:00 to 5:00 a.m. and may linger, especially in overcast, high-humidity conditions.

"It normally dissipates in 24 hours," the Conservancy noted.