Why do some flowers scatter their perfume at night times and what is the scientific reasons?

Answer 1

Briefly the strong scent is the plants primary lure lacking the use of daylight's bright colors to attract and guide pollinators.

Many plants depend on animals to spread their pollen. This is a mutualistic relationship where the plant and the pollinator benefit each other. The plant expends less energy on pollen production and instead produces showy flowers, and/or odors to bring in animals. Some plants are general, while others are more specific in their attractants but all offer a nutrient reward of nectar or some of the protein rich pollen.
Plants can avoid direct competition by attracting different species of pollinators in different seasons or at different times. Thus the plant’s efforts to attract pollinators of all stripes has produced the enormous variety of shapes, textures, colors, sizes, perfumes, and blooming times. Meanwhile the pollinators have also adapted to make the best use of a food source.
After the pollinator has left, carrying off a load of pollen, the plant wants the next flower visited to be the same species. This has lead to the most fascinating and intoxicating scents. Crepuscular & noctunal blooming plants guide in some pollinators by being pale so they are visible at night but by emitting strong sweet scents is where they have the greatest success attracting attention. Fragrances can travel great distances to attract specific night flying pollinators. The ability to bloom at night has arisen independantly in several plant families ranging from waterlillies to cacti so it is likely very beneficial.


Flowers that are fertilized by butterflies and moths (lepidoptera) are the most strongly scented. Especially fragrant are the night scented flowers. As a general rule, flowers fertilized by night flying lepidoptera grow within woodlands or wooded valleys, or in tropical areas where the plants are protected from cold winds. This provides the calm humid conditions enjoyed by moths. Rhododendron species of the Himalayas which bear fragrant flowers grow deep in sheltered valleys while those growing on exposed slopes are entirely devoid of scent. For the same reason few alpine plants any where in the world bear perfumed flowers because lepidoptera are unable to tolerate the the cold climatic conditions, though there are a number of migrating species which visit sheltered spots in summer.
Color does play a role as butterflies visit buddleia and dianthus prefering pink to red while moths visit the white or very pale night bloomers. Lonicera periclymenun appear pink when seen from above, yellow from below, hence the particular attraction of this species for both butterfly as well as moth.

Specifics about the active chemicals and their interactions with pollinators can be found in 'Scented Flora of the World' by Roy Genders.

Answer 2

Because flowers grow at night..in the sunlight flowers are open and absorb the nutrients they get from the sun and then when night time comes around the flowers sleep but that's when the growth or the plant happens..so while the plant is sleeping and growing it releases it's perfume..

Answer 3

Some plants release their perfume at night because they are pollinated by nocturnal insects, such as moths.

Answer 4

omg you got to be kiding me wow i didnt know that some flowers scatter their perfume at night thats so cool!!!

dora~*