Odor Attracts Specific Insects

photograph of red and white plant surrounded by green plants

Biological Strategy

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Send Chemical Signals (Odor, Taste, Etc.)

Tastes, odors, and hormones are all chemical signals that can float through the air or water, or be applied to solid surfaces. Chemicals are important for signaling and communication; even humans, with our underdeveloped sense of smell, are influenced by chemicals more than we realize. Chemical signals are often specific to the living system intended to receive them, and are often relatively weak, dispersing upon moving through liquids or gases. To ensure that chemical signals reach their target, living systems create unique chemical signals and methods of dispersal. One example is an orchid that is pollinated by dung beetles, and therefore distributes a dung-smelling aroma to attract them.

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Flowering Plants

Clade Angiosperms (“receptacle seed”): Dandelions, oaks, grasses, cacti, apples

With 416 families containing some 300,000 known species, angiosperms are the most diverse group of plants, and they can be found around the globe in a wide variety of habitats. They are characterized by seeds that grow enclosed in ovaries, which are enclosed in flowers. The floral organs then develop into fruits of myriad kinds and dimensions, from simple seed casings on maples to elaborate fleshy growths like papayas. The oldest flower known from fossils, Montsechia vidalii, appeared during the Jurassic Period 130 million years ago. They are the primary food source for herbivorous animals, which in turn makes them the indirect food source for carnivores as well.

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The inflorescence of the titan arum plant attracts specific pollinators by emitting an intense, carrion-like odor.

Image: Original uploader was Lorax at en.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons / GFDL - Gnu Free Document License

Image: Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons / GFDL - Gnu Free Document License

A titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) with 3 flowers at Botanischer Garten Bonn

Image: Matilda Smith / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain - No restrictions

Amorphophallus titanum

This Giant Plant Looks Like Raw Meat and Smells Like Dead Rat

“The titan’s inflorescence is said to give off a revolting stench…As we sat beside it, the smell seemed to come in waves. Sometimes it was strong; sometimes it faded. There was no wind in the forest, so we had to conclude that the flower was sending out its perfume in pulses.” (Attenborough 1995:139)

“A pronounced odor, different from species to species but usually carrion-like. A truly classical demonstration of its biological significance was given in 1926 by Knoll (1)…the odor serves the purpose of attracting large numbers of small insects-mostly Psychodid flies, but also some Staphylinid beetles-which are thereupon trapped in the floral chamber where they are held prisoner for about a day.” (Bastiaan 1960:70)

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Last Updated May 14, 2018

References

Book

The Private Life of Plants

BBC Books | 21/08/1995 | David Attenborough

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Reference

“The titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum, is a flowering plant with the largest inflorescence in the world. The flower emits a unique rotting animal-like odor that attracts insects for pollination…The main odorant causing the smell during the flower-opening phase was identified as dimethyl trisulfide, a compound with a sulfury odor that has been found to be emitted from some vegetables, microorganisms, and cancerous wounds.” (Shirasu et al. 2010:2550)

Journal article

Chemical identity of a rotting animal-like odor emitted from the inflorescence of the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum)

Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry 74.12 (2010): 2550-2554. | Shirasu M, Fujioka K, Kakishima S, Nagai S, Tomizawa Y, Tsukaya H, Murata J, Manome Y, Touhara K.

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