Not all flowers smell sweet. Some smell like rotting meat! This scent attracts flies and other insects, which pollinate the plants’ flowers so they can reproduce. Only recently did scientists uncover how certain plants produce such an awful stench.
Researchers studied three smelly plant species: Asarum simile, Eurya japonica, and Symplocarpus renifolius (known as skunk cabbage). They found that all three create the same enzyme—a biological compound that speeds up chemical reactions. It can break down a chemical called methanethiol into a compound called dimethyl disulfide. The same molecule is released when bacteria break down rotting flesh! When humans get a whiff, “it smells like a fart,” says Yudai Okuyama, a biologist at Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science who led the study. Pee-yew!