BARTOSZ JAN PŁACHNO

Jagiellonian University,
Faculty of Biology and Earth Science, Institute of Botany,
Department of Plant Cytology and Embryology;
Grodzka 52, 31- 044 Kraków
e-mail: bartek78pl@poczta.onet.pl

Description popularizing the research project

Human nose recognizes nearly 4,000 scents. In comparison to the sense of taste which distinguishes merely five kinds, it is an impressive number. Moreover the nose is 10,000 times more sensitive than taste buds. Yet in the ranking of human senses and their “usefulness in everyday life" it would be the last one, behind eyesight, touch, taste and balance. So why did the Nature gifted us with such a sensitive organ, if it is so underestimated by its users? It is easy to imagine that each of the 4,000 received smells carries some significant data. Our animal ancestors left us with the habit of sniffing food to check whether it is edible or not. It is hard to ignore the smell of burning. So what about the remaining 3,998 chemical compounds? Some of them could surely be used in interpersonal communication if soap and deodorants were not broadly used. Scientists claim that a woman is able to recognize her baby's smell in a crowd. Others try to persuade us that the best method to choose a husband, having consulted the choice with several friends first, of course, is to smell the candidate's sweaty shirt. The sense of smell seems to be the most profitable only for the producers of perfumes...
Taking it all into consideration we may come to a conclusion that preservation of the human race would not be endangered without a nose. Especially if it would not be put up, turned up and poked any more. It is worse when we think about species that sniff to live as their sight is too weak. The best examples here are insects that communicate with each other using chemical compounds which they detect from a distance of several kilometers. In this way they find partners for reproduction and a source of food for themselves or their offspring. The smell of rotting flesh is unbearable for us, but it is attractive for flies that feed on rotting meat. When the smell comes from a carrion flower of stapelia it will be pollinated before the flies discover they have been tricked.
Our senses deceive us as well. Nevertheless the question: “Can you feel it?" is of rather romantic nature and in most cases it does not refer to the sense of touch. Communication through smells does not play as important role in our life as it used to do. Maybe we should try to harness them to exchange information. The scent of violets or roses emitted by mobile phones could announce somebody dear calling us. What is more the 4,000 smells give us a lot of options.

Abstract

The carrion flower stapeliads represent olfactory mimicry forming flowers which mimic food source or oviposition sites to attract pollinators. Flowers of stapeliads (Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae-Stapeliinae), which produce a strong, unpleasant for a human nose, however, attractive for flies scent, were examined by us using light and electron microscopy. Secretory cells of the examined species are extremely rich in endoplasmic reticulum and have flocculent material in vacuole. We find diversity of adaxial corolla epidermal in both a cell shape and microarchitecture of surface, not only between species but also among different part of corolla of one flower.
Worth to mention is that in this project three Universities participate: University of Silesia, the Jagiellonian University and UMSC.