Scentsational!

Wonderland Scent Station.  Using the scent station, see if your nose can detect which scent would attract which type of insect. You can also use the stations to discover how orchid scents like vanilla are used as a base note in commercial fragrances.

Like many other flowers, orchids use scent to intoxicate and lure their pollinators.  A seductive fragrance drifting through the forest can attract a pollinator from far and wide, even at night. But the fragrance might not always be pleasing to a human nose.  Some orchids emit smells of decaying flesh to attract pollinating flies.  Others mimic the smell of female wasps to attract male wasps. Some orchids, however, simply smell divine.

Fragrance in orchids is not simply matter of smelling nice. It‟s far more calculating than that. Orchids are fussy about who pollinates them, so each orchid fragrance is designed to attract a particular pollinator.

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