Trees also have painkillers

Plants produce chemicals that relieve pain like Aspirin that we use often.

Many experts know that plants in the laboratory produce a form of pain reliever called methyl salicylate, but they have never discovered them outside of nature.

Scientists at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research accidentally discovered that plants can produce chemicals that work similarly to painkillers when they install chemical measuring devices in one. Walnut forests near the city of Davis, California, USA to monitor the emissions that pollute the environment that trees release. All equipment is more than 30 m above the ground. Results showed that methyl salicylate accounted for a large proportion in the atmosphere above the tree tops.

Scientists believe that secreting chemicals may be one of the ways the plant's immune system responds to protect them.

Plants secrete chemicals that relieve pain in the face of adverse or threatened weather events.Photo: corbis.com.

According to the researchers, the finding opens up a scenario in which farmers and planters can track the signs of disease in trees before they work. Currently they cannot know whether an ecosystem is healthy until abnormal phenomena appear, such as leaf litter.

"Unlike humans, plants have the ability to produce analgesic mixes that contain many chemicals, stimulating the formation of certain proteins. These proteins help increase plant biochemical defenses and reduce Our study showed that when drought occurs, an increase in abnormal temperature or other negative phenomena, analgesic chemicals appear in the air above the tree, "Thomas Karl, research leader, said.

According to Thomas, in addition to the analgesic effect, these chemicals also act as a means of communication for plants, helping them send a warning message about threats to nearby trees.

Some previous studies have shown that plants that are eaten by animals always secrete chemicals that nearby plants can sense.