What do flowers smell like

Share via Facebook. Share via Twitter. Share via Linked In. Share via Email. But stick your nose into the beautiful flowers of a pear tree — a close relative of apples and cherries — and you may recoil in disgust, as these flowers smell musky or putrid to attract flies as pollinators. Similarly, the corpse flower , native to Indonesian rainforests, emits a foul odor reminiscent of rotting flesh to attract flies and beetles to pollinate its flowers. Moths and bats flying at night locate flowers by the scent some release after the Sun goes down.

The night-blooming cereus, the saguaro cactus and the dragon fruit all have large white flowers which open at night — they seem to glow in the moonlight, making them visible to nocturnal visitors. Their strong perfume helps guide pollinators inside. While drinking the sweet nectar, the pollinator picks up pollen which it then deposits in the next flower visited. Once pollinated, the flower stops producing a floral scent and nectar and redirects its energy to the fertilized embryo that will become the seed.

Hello, curious kids! Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS theconversation. But the scent of certain flowers has the entrancing ability to transport you to a distant but distinct memory.

Even the faintest floral whiff on a breeze can whisk you far, far away. Listed below are some of the most delightfully scented flowers I know; they are easily cultivated, and most are suitable to growing zones 4 to They seemed to be stretching in the moonlight. Then she drank a deep draught of the scent. It almost made her dizzy. Morel come upon those luscious lilies, she would have reacted similarly.

This hybrid variety blooms exuberant dark pink flowers, whose scent is opulent and heady. Slightly spicy but deeply sensual, the aroma can overwhelm indoors, but placed judiciously, Stargazers enhance any space. Although it is tempting to lean in and inhale the perfume, you may walk away giddy, with an orange pollen-streaked nose.

Outdoors, they grow from bulbs in partial shade, zones Like a pine forest in the summer rain, the house was redolent with deeply spicy, green balsam, but it was softened with the fresh sweetness of paperwhites, like a gentle welcoming smile.

Paperwhites are native to the Mediterranean region, and the bulbs will grow outside in the warmest zones But those in colder climes can enjoy the petite, snow-white flowers and their delicate but dreamy aroma by forcing bulbs indoors, in bowls of pebbles.

The Primrose opens wide in spring; Her scent is sweet and good: It smells of every happy thing In sunny lane and wood. This compact but colorful plant is beloved throughout Europe and the British Isles. It is the flower of fairies, of the Norse goddess Freya, and the foliage stuff of many legends and lore. And it smells like spring; cool but sunny, sweet but slightly tangy like an orange lollipop. When taking your evening constitutional on a breezy and brisk day in late March, the waft of fruity fragrance from the first primroses smell of hope and the sweet promise of spring.

They are easy to grow and maintain, in varied conditions, from wet to dry and sun to shade. Most varieties prefer cooler climates, in zones , but there are more than species, one for everyone and everywhere.

The evening primrose is a different variety; its night-time scent is glorious. How can I rest? How can I be content when there is still that odor in the world? This shrub blooms in late spring and early summer with tender white flowers whose centers resemble a scattering of tiny sunbeams. The blossoms release a cool, citrus smell that is gentle but refreshing. Scientifically speaking, the smell a flower emits is intended to attract insects and birds that will fertilize the flowers, according to the Smithsonian.

Plants rely on pollinating animals, including insects, birds and bats, to transfer pollen from flower to flower to fertilize them. Pollen is the plant equivalent of sperm, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When a bee or another insect visits a flower, it picks up pollen. As these pollinators continue visiting more flowers to drink nectar or gather pollen, they deposit some of the pollen on the flowers, which then fertilizes them.

Some flowers use wind or simply gravity to aid in pollination, but many plants rely on pollinators. That's where their smell comes in. Flowers produce fragrances to help attract pollinators. No two flowers emit the same fragrance, according to Scientific American.

That's because scents are created by a variety of volatile organic compounds.