Brains On! Science podcast for kids How do flowers get their smells?
Mar 17, 2026
Dr Kelsey Byers, an evolutionary chemical ecologist at the John Innes Centre, explains why flowers make scents and how scent molecules work. Short sentences explore how smells attract specific pollinators. Listen about roses’ complex chemical bouquets. Hear why some flowers switch scents after pollination and how stinky plants like the corpse flower lure flies.
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How Flowers Create Scents You Smell
- Flowers release tiny volatile chemicals into the air that animals detect as scents.
- Kelsey Byers explains smells often come from petals, leaves, or nectar and float to noses where particles stick and get sensed.
Pollinators Are The Main Pollen Movers
- Pollinators like bees, flies, butterflies, moths, birds, bats and even some rodents move pollen by visiting flowers for nectar or pollen.
- As they feed they pick up pollen on their bodies and transfer it to other flowers, enabling seed production.
Scientists Still Don't Know How Scents Exit Petals
- Scientists still don't fully know exactly how most flowers release scent into the air.
- The transcript raises possibilities like tiny petal openings or simple evaporation but leaves it an open 'wild mystery'.