Category: Secondary Compounds
Eau de Zombie? – The Malodorous “Voodoo Lilies” and “Corpse Flowers” – Why Do They Smell So Bad?
Plant Gas – From Attracting Moths to Influencing The Climate
Why A Strawberry Smells Like A Strawberry (And More)
It’s strawberry season here at the upper left-hand corner of the USA. This, and a recent report regarding the biosynthesis of the chemical that is chiefly responsible for the strawberry flavor (see Ref. 1 below), got me thinking about why they taste so good. Strawberries emit several hundred volatile organic…
How To Make A Decaf Coffee Plant
Why decaf coffee? Have you ever had a cup of really good decaf coffee? Me neither. (Probably because the decaf coffee results from chemical processing of normal coffee beans.) But why would anyone want coffee without caffeine? As illustrated by the old Gary Larson cartoon on the left, sometimes you…
“Talking” Plants: Airborne Chemical Signals (Part 3)
How a parasitic plant may “sniff out” its victims. As on the internet, once information is broadcast, even if only among ‘friends’, it becomes available for other unintended and unexpected uses. Dodder (genus Cuscuta) is a parasitic plant on other plants. But how does this plant find its host? Apparently,…
“Talking” Plants: Airborne Chemical Signals
Wicked Plants?
Toxic? Yes!….. But wicked? Wicked (wik’id) adj. [Middle English wikke, evil, akin to Old English wicce, witch] “1. morally bad or wrong; acting or done with evil intent; depraved; iniquitous.” – Webster’s New World Dictionary A wonderful new book Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical…
Flowers: What You See Versus What the Bees See
Eau de Zombie? – The Malodorous “Voodoo Lilies” and “Corpse Flowers” – Why Do They Smell So Bad?
Plant Gas – From Attracting Moths to Influencing The Climate
Why A Strawberry Smells Like A Strawberry (And More)

It’s strawberry season here at the upper left-hand corner of the USA. This, and a recent report regarding the biosynthesis of the chemical that is chiefly responsible for the strawberry flavor (see Ref. 1 below), got me thinking about why they taste so good. Strawberries emit several hundred volatile organic…
How To Make A Decaf Coffee Plant

Why decaf coffee? Have you ever had a cup of really good decaf coffee? Me neither. (Probably because the decaf coffee results from chemical processing of normal coffee beans.) But why would anyone want coffee without caffeine? As illustrated by the old Gary Larson cartoon on the left, sometimes you…
“Talking” Plants: Airborne Chemical Signals (Part 3)

How a parasitic plant may “sniff out” its victims. As on the internet, once information is broadcast, even if only among ‘friends’, it becomes available for other unintended and unexpected uses. Dodder (genus Cuscuta) is a parasitic plant on other plants. But how does this plant find its host? Apparently,…
“Talking” Plants: Airborne Chemical Signals
Wicked Plants?

Toxic? Yes!….. But wicked? Wicked (wik’id) adj. [Middle English wikke, evil, akin to Old English wicce, witch] “1. morally bad or wrong; acting or done with evil intent; depraved; iniquitous.” – Webster’s New World Dictionary A wonderful new book Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical…