Green leaf volatiles
Encyclopedia
Green leaf volatiles is a compound term to describe the variety of chemicals that are released when plants suffer tissue damage. Some of these chemicals act as signalling compounds between either plants of the same species, of other species or even vastly different lifeforms like insects. Some, although not necessarily all of these chemicals act essentially as plant pheromones.
Most known to man is the smell of a freshly mown lawn, but for other forms of life GLV have a far less trivial function, mostly as a warning signal of oncoming causes of tissue damage, but also as a form of inter-species signalling to attract for example insects that prey on caterpillars that are consuming the plant.
Most known to man is the smell of a freshly mown lawn, but for other forms of life GLV have a far less trivial function, mostly as a warning signal of oncoming causes of tissue damage, but also as a form of inter-species signalling to attract for example insects that prey on caterpillars that are consuming the plant.