Plants produce thanks to 'perfume'

A parasitic plant uses aromatic chemicals to attract the attention of small mammals, so that their flowers are pollinated.

The BBC said the pollination activity of Cytinus visseri, the name of a tree in South Africa, was made possible by underground mammals. To attract the attention of animals, plants use some aromatic chemicals.

Cytinus visseri tree.

Professor Steven Johnson, a lecturer at KwaZulu-Natal University in South Africa, and colleagues studied Cytinus visseri for the past 6 years.

Cytinus visseri does not produce chlorophyll, so they " live " beneath another tree. Only their flowers and fruits protrude from the canopy of the host plant.

Johnson's team followed a variety of C. visseri trees to see what tricks they used to entice animals to pollinate them. They found the plant's flowers released volatile molecules into the air. These molecules create a strange and strong odor.

"That scent is made up of more than 30 chemical compounds, like derivatives of fatty acids, " Johnson said.

To test the effects of scent, the team dropped some mice into the maze. In the labyrinth there is an aromatic route. The results showed that the mice only walked into the aromatic lines.

" It is possible that the aroma of the tree is a sign of abundant food sources for the mouse, or it plays a role in the exchange of mammalian information, " Johnson said.

Scent is an important tool for pollinated plants because small mammals live on the ground because animals often " visit " the flowers in the evening, when their eyesight is hardly effective.