Flowers & Facts

 As a few of you may know, I'm a lover all things Biology. As spring arrives here in Buffalo, I've begun to walk the numerous parks searching out the newly sprung leaves, and the easter flowers blossoming up from the ground.

On one of these many hunts, my boyfriend and I were discussing the nature of flowers, why they look a certain way, or smell a certain way. We were both amazed at how people don't know the facts behind many flowers.

So here is a blog to detail those facts I think everyone should know about flowers:

Fact One: Flowers that are predominantly red have little to no scent.  Flowers that are red, or a varying shade of red typically do not have a strong scent. Why? Well, you can blame it on the birds. A majority of red flowers are geared to attract birds, rather then insects to spread their genes to others of their kind. Birds see light in higher wave lengths then ours, most notable "ultra-violet" wave lengths.  A red flower stands out even more in ultra-violet light.  Also, because birds typically do not have a strong sense of smell, the flowers feel no need to waste energy on giving a strong perfume when the bird won't even be able to smell it.  This is not whole truth though. Some red flowers (most notable the Rose varieties) do give off a strong scent. The rose is actually attempting to attract Bats, a mammal, in most cases. Bats have a sense of smell that is comparable to ours (even better in most species) and the rose is like a sweetly scented bright light to them.

Fact Two: It takes tens of thousands, perhaps millions of years for flowering plants to develop and find a pollinating partner.  Flowered plants appeared on the earth some 140 million years ago (comparably recent in the timescale of plants). Those beautiful tulips, and orchids you love to stare at took millions of years to look even remotely close to what they do now (though many flowers do not resemble their wild varieties anymore, as humans have breed them to get certain colors and shapes). Also, it takes tens of thousands, perhaps millions of years for a plant to create a close relationship with any animal. Flowers are advertisements for animals to come and check them out, in most cases they get nectar (a sweet sugary substance) or in the case of the Bee, a dollop of pollen. These seemingly simple relationships have taken millions of years to develop to the point their are at now.

I'll be adding some more facts later, but this should hold you off for you.

Enjoy your spring.

-Sean