#sciencejournalism
https://gizmodo.com/this-flower-smells-like-a-rotting-corpse-and-now-scientists-know-how-2000524308
Scientists apparently discover "for the first time" that corpse flowers give off putrescine?
I'm confused. I thought it was well understood that they gave of putrescine.
You can smell it.
@AskTheDevil The smell of putrifaction is a combination of various compounds like cadaverine, putrescine, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, methane, various thiols (sulfur-containing compounds), and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which overall give it the unforgettable stench. These compounds are primarily the result of protein (meat) bacterial degradation. The rotting of plant matter smells different. You ever smell root rot?
@Victor I have smelled, I think, more kinds of rot than anyone else living.
More to the point, I've been to the blooming of a Krubi flower (I still call them that), a dozen times, and they smell like a freezer full of roast beef that went bad. They smell like rotten meat.
The flies agree.
The same smell (in smaller amounts) comes out of roses.
@AskTheDevil ..and from an evolution standpoint...how and why did a plant evolve to produce chemicals that mimic rotting flesh to attract flies, beetles as opposed to produce nectar to attract bees, bats....Would it be because flies and beetles are more abundant and greater chance for pollinating flower?
@Victor Or because it's less competition. Creatures don't plan out their evolution in advance typically. They just happened to hit on a chemical signal that attracted that kind of pollinator instead of another.
They had zillions of years to do this.