Originally posted on Agritate, which is no longer active.
The alluring odor cast by your enticing neighbor that lifts you up by the nose to float down the hall a la Pepé Le Pew seems to have parallels in the plant kingdom as well.
In Scientific American, a recent article describes how parasitic plants sniff their way toward their prey. I wonder whether certain plants, then, “smell” and grow toward (or away from) compost heaps or other rotting piles of stuff? Plant communication is a vibrant topic—it’d be great to have actual biochemical confirmation of the purported benefits of companion planting in vegetable gardens.
Sniffing Plants
