Heat generated inside the inflorescence heightens the morbid effect and helps pump the aroma out into the atmosphere. But on to more pleasant aromas — for instance, flowers that mimic pheromones, the scents that female animals give off to signal their readiness to mate. Of course, those ersatz pheromones coming from flowers are directed at insects, because they are the ones flowers want to attract to perform pollination.
More than mere scent may be needed to keep an insect on a flower. The mirror orchid, for example, deceives the male bees that pollinate it by not only smelling like receptive female bees, but also by looking like them. The Pistel is the female part of the flower. Flowers make baby flowers when pollen is dropped into the pistel. The pollen then makes its way into a part of the flower called the Ovule where seeds are made. Bees are attracted to the scent of a flower and land on it.
They walk around on the flower and pollen from the stamen gathers on its legs. Based in Southern California, Melissa Rogers has been writing professionally since Her work has been featured in "Popstar!
Rogers has an associate degree in communications from Saddleback College. What Makes Flowers Smell? Volatiles emitted from flowers function as both long- and short-distance attractants and play a prominent role in the localization and selection of flowers by insects, especially moth-pollinated flowers, which are detected and visited at night. Species pollinated by bees and flies have sweet scents, whereas those pollinated by beetles have strong musty, spicy, or fruity odors.
To date, little is known about how insects respond to individual components found within floral scents, but it is clear that they are capable of distinguishing among complex scent mixtures.
In addition to attracting insects to flowers and guiding them to food resources within the flower, floral volatiles are essential in allowing insects to discriminate among plant species and even among individual flowers of a single species. For example, closely related plant species that rely on different types of insects for pollination produce different odors, reflecting the olfactory sensitivities or preferences of the pollinators.
By providing species-specific signals, flower fragrances facilitate an insect's ability to learn particular food sources, thereby increasing its foraging efficiency. At the same time, successful pollen transfer and thus, sexual reproduction is ensured, which is beneficial to plants.
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