A lilac is a fragrant flower from Earth.
When the USS Defiant picked up Barry Waddle, he claimed Klingons stank. He didn't think about the fact that Worf was present; once Waddle was gone, O'Brien told Worf he liked the way the Klingon smelled. Bashir agreed, sarcastically stating it was vanilla with a hint of lilac.
Later, O'Brien tried to get one of the other senior staff members to benignly sniff the air around Worf and say, "Is that lilac?" (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")