Why Do Flowers Smell? A couple of the most common questions that people have about flowers are: (1) Why do flowers have scents? and (2) Why do many flowers smell good to us? The first question is fairly easy to answer, but the second one is a bit trickier to…
Where Does The Daffodil Flower’s “Trumpet” Come From? An answer to this question can be found in a 2013 report published in The Plant Journal (please see Ref. 1 below). The full text of this article is now available online (thanks to the Wiley Online Library), and I’ve read it…
Signature Scents of Death & Decay In a previous post, we explored the discovery that plants emit a wide array of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and that, because of this, sometimes plants stink. But I think few would argue that the prize for the “stinkiest” plants would have to go…
Since the daffodils are out in full force here in the upper left-hand corner of the U.S., I decided to revisit this post from 2013 and revise it a bit. Hope you enjoy it (again?)…. Doesn’t the Scientific Study of Flower Development Ruin the Aesthetic Beauty of Flowers? Here’s the…
Hothouse Flowers Unlike animals, plants are not born with their “naughty bits”. That is, the sexual organs of plants, a.k.a., flowers, are typically formed after a period of so-called vegetative growth. In other words, plants first go through a vegetative stage of development (think shoots and leaves, over and over…
Flower Power Growing in the rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra are some very unusual parasitic plants that produce the largest individual flowers so far discovered. These flowers can be over 1 meter (3 feet) wide and weigh over 9 kilograms (20 pounds). This flower also has a very strong…
Much Maligned. Highly Underrated? The common dandelion that you often see in the spring in North America is, most likely, Taraxacum officinale. How dandelions reproduce by cloning themselves and how herbicides kill dandelions, but not your lawn are two subjects I’ve previously explored here. But if you’d like some more…
The Science of Flower Development….Doesn’t It Ruin the Aesthetic Beauty of Flowers? I’m aware of no better answer to such a question than this one from Richard Feynman: OK, now back to flower development, in general, and daffodils, in particular.… About The Daffodil’s “Trumpet” A report recently published online in…
The Sperm & Egg Tango In a paper published in the 23 November 2012 issue of Science magazine (Ref 1 below), Dr. Stephanie Sprunck and Prof. Dr. Thomas Dresselhaus and colleagues report a major finding regarding the cellular nature of sexual reproduction in plants. Specifically, they have been studying gamete…
Sneeze The pollen from some plants can cause allergic rhinitis, a.k.a., “hay fever” in many people. This is because, when the pollen is inhaled into the nasal passages, antigens on the surface of the pollen elicit an immune response in people with a sensitized immune system. (In grass pollen, the…