As Shakespeare once said: “A rose by any other name would smell like root beer.” Actually that’s what the great Bard would have said if had he read this Discovery.com story about customized flower fragrances.
Root beer roses
Scientists at the University of Florida have figured out how to change the scent of a flower by genetically altering the plant – they have literally made roses that smell like root beer and petunias smell like wintergreen. In addition to custom-scented bouquets, this discovery could also lead to new perfume notes.
The research is not as frivolous as you might think, though. They’re actually trying to find ways to increase pollination of fruit producing plants to increase crop yield.
What do YOU think? Would you want “designer flowers” or would you stick with the old standards? Leave a comment and share your flowery prose with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.
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I LOVE rootbeer! Now Valentines Day flowers can have some redemption! -and when you shake them up they fizz all over! Sweet!
The beauty junkie in me looooooooves the idea of flowers that smell like…. I dunno, popcorn? watermelon? fairy floss? but the environmentalist in me shudders to think what this could mean. I’m anti genetically modifying plants. Poor agribusiness practices are decreasing our biodiversity and putting the planets food supply at risk. I support customised flower fragrances for novelty purposes only!
Hey, if it keeps species from going extinct, I’m all for it! In fact, I firmly believe cloning should be used to help those species at risk of extinction as well as learning how to clone healthy human organs from donors with sick organs, like people with cystic fibrosis.
I’m not sure. I want roses that smell like roses again. Carnations were popular in high school as a fundraising item and I loved them because of their strong spicy scent and now, even days after purchase, they seem to smell like whatever odors were in the refrigerated truck they arrived in. There is already too much manipulation in the plant and animal worlds and no doubt, whatever the usefulness, it will probably become a tacky fad.
Great! And we can genetically modify something else to smell like roses!
If you want to smell root beer, then open a goddamned can of root beer and SMELL IT FOR CHRISSAKES.
What’s the point of having roses smell like rootbeer again?
And omg Janis, too funny! Does this mean I can get rootbeer that smells like roses?
I love the classic scent of roses, but there’s something wickedly humorous about having a rootbeer scented one. How about steak, vanilla, or butterscotch while you’re at it. Just don’t lose track of the original in the process.
The ironic part of this for me is that I enjoy flower cookery. Maybe that’s why it all sounds delicious to me.
)
Firefly – to attract more bugs and stuff to increase pollination.