Different Plant Smells

So, this is probably a really elementary question but it'll be easier to answer.

What's good with the way a cannabis plant will smell? I know that the taste ranges from sweet to piney to cedary to skunky and all in between but does the smell of the plant (during flowering) signify anything?

My friend has a (supposed) Nothern Lights at about 6 weeks into flowering and it smells exactly like a skunk spray does. I know there's a few Skunk strains and hybrids. Does the smell maybe identify the (supposed) NL as a skunk strain?

Word. Thanks

NL is still NL most all strains show different phenotypes(physical characteristics). So the NL plant is displaying skunk phenotype, not a different strain.