Why are there fragrant flowers and non-fragrant flowers?

'In general, every flower has a fragrance, but not all flowers have a scent.' Why is that? First, let's see where the fragrance comes from.

Scented flowers are caused by scent manufacturing plants, which are cells containing essential oils. The product of this factory is a scented oil, it emits from oil pipes, at normal temperature, it can emit scent according to water, from which the scent will fly to attract people, so called volatile oils . Because this type of oil in every flower different. This fragrant oil, if the Sun shines more strongly, will emit a stronger aroma, so the stronger the light, the stronger the fragrance and fly farther. In addition, in some flowers, although there are no oil cells, their cells in the metabolism will constantly produce some aromatic oils. There are also some flower cells that cannot produce aromatic oils, but they do have a type of glucoxide, which is inherently non-aromatic, but when it undergoes enzymatic resolution, it also gives off a fragrant aroma.

Picture 1 of Why are there fragrant flowers and non-fragrant flowers?
Scented flowers are caused by scent manufacturing plants, which are cells containing essential oils.

Why are there still some non-fragrant flowers? Simply stated, there are no aromatic cells in the flowers, nor are there glucides. Once there is no fragrance factory, of course there is no fragrant product.

The oil cells in the flower are not all fragrant, there are also some that have a rotten smell, even some that have a very rotten smell, such as helminths, thyme, chestnut, rhubarb . when blooming in emits a very strong odor that makes it impossible for humans to smell, even bee butterflies keep away from them.

In summary, fragrant or not fragrant flowers are due to whether or not the oil evaporates. As well as aromatic or rotten because the substances in the evaporation oils of different plants are also different, so the radiating taste is also different.

So how does volatile oil form? What is the physiological significance of plants? This question cannot be fully answered yet.

It is commonly thought that the volatile oil of plants is the last substance produced in the metabolism of plants, and it is said that the excretion in the plant's body or the waste of physiological processes. , and the vast majority of scientists believe that it is made by chlorophyll during photosynthesis. When the tree grows, this substance is distributed throughout the trunk, along with the growth of the tree, it will store in other parts of the plant according to the physiological characteristics of each species, some species are concentrated in stems and leaves like mint, celery, aromatic grass .; There are species stored in the trunk like sandalwood; There are species stored in the bark such as laurel, postpartum (an oriental medicine); there are species stored in the ground like ginger; Some store in fruits like oranges, tangerines, anise and lemons. In general, volatile oils are largely stored in the petals of plants.

In fact, volatile oils exist in plants with their specific effects . The most obvious is because the scent will attract the insects to spread the pollen far away to help the plant proliferate, in addition, the evaporation oil can reduce the evaporation of water components, or use aroma to cause Toxic for plants near it to protect themselves.

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