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Your rose smells nice because it was bred to smell nice by human breeders. All the different varieties of cultivated roses that we have today are the product of
by whyenot 3y ago
Your rose smells nice because it was bred to smell nice by human breeders. All the different varieties of cultivated roses that we have today are the product of hybridizing and selective breeding (“artificial selection”) of twelve or so wild rose species; a process that has continued over hundreds if not thousands of years.
While not a hard and fast rule, most plant species with strongly scented flowers usually are white (jasmine, gardenia, etc.) and pollinated by nocturnal animals like moths and bats. (A great counter-example is corpse flowers, which use scent to attract a completely different guild of pollinators).
- bequanna 3y agoWhere I live roses grow wild and always have. They smell as good as cultivated roses.
- lovemenot 3y agoDo you believe these "wild" roses have never cross-fertilised with cultivated varieties?
- bequanna 3y agoSeems unlikely. We are in a very rural area with only a couple homes per square mile. They typically line the roads where the grass is short and are referenced by settlers when they first came to the area in the 1860s
- Clamchop 3y agoSo-called white flowers are in a bit of their own category, as perfume goes. A _white floral_ is conventionally the flowers you named (I'd add tuberose and orange blossom as commercially important) and have startlingly similar scent profiles. Importantly, they all contain a lot of indoles, which is also in feces so they're sometimes described as fecal or dirty, and has something to do with why they are such conspicuous odors. As a perfume for wearing, they go through pronounced trend cycles. There are many others of interest. Roses of course but also violet, lavender, lilac, lily, hyacinth, osmanthus, mimosa, marigold, chrysanthemum, chamomile, geranium, carnation. You might count iris, but moreso the tuber than the flower.