Some flowers like it hot and stinky, too| ECOVIEWS

Irises and lilies have a well-deserved reputation for being pretty, whether in a swamp, a woodland, or someone’s carefully tended garden.

For some people, beauty is reason enough to protect a species. A more pragmatic (and anthropocentric) reason to preserve biodiversity is to avoid the unwitting destruction of species with as-yet-unknown properties that may be of value to people.

The voodoo lily, with the typical beauty of lilies, is a tropical species of southeast Asia that offers just one example of unusual qualities found in the plant world. The voodoo lily has a striking purple flower and reaches a height of almost 3 feet. A garden lover would be captivated by its beauty.

However, voodoo lilies have another trait that might diminish their popularity in the garden. During the period of pollination, they smell like rotting meat. Associated with this smell is the bizarre phenomenon that the flowers themselves heat up. Temperatures inside a voodoo lily in the cool shade can sometimes reach a temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Pretty flowers and bad-smelling flowers are commonplace. Heat production is generally reserved for members of the animal kingdom. What is the explanation for this heat-generating plant?

The natural history of voodoo lilies is relatively straightforward and might be guessed by someone with a little biological training. When considering an unusual trait observed in a plant or animal, keep in mind three things; How does the trait enhance feeding, protection or reproduction? These are the basic essentials needed for an individual to survive and pass on its genes. They are a good beginning for discovering why a plant or animal does what it does.

The most obvious reason for the voodoo lily's thermogenic properties, as they are called, is to attract insects that pollinate the species. Many insects, such as some scarab beetles, are attracted to decaying meat. The voodoo lily flower produces chemicals with just such a smell.

The rise in temperature increases how far the smell travels from the plant. The farther, the better for luring insects to the plant. In addition, warm temperatures inside the flower keep the beetles and other insects in an active state, thus ensuring maximal contact with the reproductive structures of the flower that are essential for pollination.

The biochemical explanation is far more complex. Thermogenic plants have been known to science since the 1700s. Only recently have they received sufficient attention for biochemists to begin to understand the physiological processes.

Simply put, the metabolic pathways typical of plants are altered in thermogenic species during reproduction. Instead of storing energy, they produce heat. The details are not clearly understood, but one certainty is that voodoo lilies produce salicylic acid during the process. Salicylic acid is the primary pain-relieving ingredient in aspirin.

Potential applications of these findings might be to transfer heat-producing genes to other plants, in order to modify their metabolism for various purposes. Perhaps agricultural crops could be produced that are more resistant to freezing or to cold storage. The ability to alter plant metabolic pathways by replacing energy storage with heat production also has promise as a herbicidal agent.

A native North American plant species with heat-producing properties is the eastern skunk cabbage. In the Northeast, skunk cabbages are among the earliest plants emerging in the spring, often pushing directly up through a covering of snow that’s been melted by the heat they generate.

Some plants have been reported to raise their temperature 45 degrees higher than their environment. One might also suspect that a skunk cabbage, like the voodoo lily, attracts and is pollinated by insects that enjoy dead meat. Anyone who has been in the vicinity of a stepped-upon skunk cabbage can attest to the stink.

Genes within any species store a unique, complex network of biochemical information. Plants such as lilies and irises may have components that can help cure diseases, eliminate agricultural pests or offer other undisclosed benefits for the human race. But to use them, we have to preserve them.

Whit Gibbons is professor of zoology and senior biologist at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. If you have an environmental question or comment, email ecoviews@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Flowers: Some like it hot and stinky, too| ECOVIEWS