News Plants

Putrid plants can reek of hot rotting flesh with one evolutionary trick

Independent genetic changes in one enzyme enabled the same stink of death or dung in many flowers

Three stinky plant flowers that have independently evolved the ability to make the scent of death and dung are shown. On the left, a fly crawls over the small green bell shaped flowers with brown edges of an evergreen shrub Eurya japonica. In the center a large barrel shaped maw of Asarum simile has three large petal-like arm with a red and white ring resembling rows of teeth surrounding a central hole. On the right is Symplocarpus renifolius with a green shoot and a huge red leaf that flops over at the tip and curves to create a cavern from which peeks a spiky, egg-shaped structure.

Some flowers smell like death, and for the same reason. Malodorous members of the Eurya (left, E. japonica pictured), Asarum (A. simile, middle) and Symplocarpus (S. renifolius, right) genera independently evolved changes in an enzyme that help them attract pollinating flies with the unlovely smell of rotting meat.

© 2025 National Museum of Nature and Science

By Tina Hesman Saey

Some plants stink of rotting meat or dung, which helps them attract flies for pollination.