As early as 100 million years ago, in the mid-Cretaceous period, scents appeared in primitive flowers. Just as they do today, they attracted pollinating insects. This scent took on even greater significance because the flowers weren't simply colorful petals.
Dinosaurs and flowers
George Poinar Jr. of Oregon State University speculates that some dinosaurs may have picked up the scents of these flowers. This may have been because the plants attracted the reptiles.
Fossilized flowers and scents
George and his son studied amber flowers from Myanmar, including Cascolaurus burmensis and Tropidogyne pentaptera, as well as amber flowers from the Dominican Republic dating back 20 to 30 million years. They didn't detect odors, but they did discover tissues responsible for odor production, such as nectaries, osmophores, and glandular hairs.
Prehistoric and present flowers
The secretory tissues discovered in Cretaceous flowers are structurally similar to those of modern flowers. This suggests that prehistoric and modern flowers of the same species secreted similar fragrances.
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