Nearly 2 billion people will eat a chili pepper today, mainly because of their pungent flavor, that is, their peppery heat.
This perceived heat is caused by a chemical called capsaicin. Capsaicin and other capsaicinoids, found mainly in the pepper’s fleshy tissue which holds the seeds (see below right), activates heat-sensation-related receptors in the mammalian [...]
Archive for September, 2008
Evolutionary Benefits of “Hotness” to Chili Plants
Posted in Secondary Compounds, tagged agriculture, ecology, evolution, plants, science on September 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“Talking” Plants: Stressed Plants and Wintergreen Lifesavers (and Aspirin)
Posted in Plant Stress, Secondary Compounds, tagged agriculture, botany, environment, plants, science on September 19, 2008 | 3 Comments »
What do wintergreen lifesavers have to do with stressed plants?
And what is a “stressed” plant, anyway?
A plant that’s “stressed” has usually been injured by the physical (cold, heat, drought) or biological (insects, disease-causing microbes) environment.
Such stress often causes the plant to produce an array of defensive compounds. Some of these compounds may help the plant [...]
New Plant Hormones Discovered?
Posted in Plant Hormones, tagged agriculture, botany, horticulture, plants, science on September 11, 2008 | 2 Comments »
What if the roots of flowering plants produced chemical signals that regulated the branching of their shoots?
Chemical signals used by plants to regulate their development and physiology are called plant hormones. Very small amounts of these compounds, acting alone or in tandem, often elicit dramatic effects on plant development. For many years there were only [...]
Sex Lives of Plants May Be Improved By Two Different Chemicals Produced By Flowers
Posted in Flowering, Secondary Compounds, tagged botany, ecology, evolution, Flowering, plants, science on September 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Sex.
Animals do it.
And plants do it, too.
To enhance sex (cross-pollination), the flowers of some plants not only produce chemical pigments (colors) and sugary nectar to attract pollinators, but also volatile chemicals (scents) to do the same. In addition to these chemical attractants, flowers may also produce chemical repellents, such as nicotine (see below) to inhibit [...]
