HOW THE ROSE LOST ITS SCENT

From floral to fragranceless, there's a biological reason behind a rose's missing odour today

- SCOTT DUTFIELD

For the last 5,000 years, humans have been cultivating the romantic blooms of roses. Grown for their vibrant petals and sweet scent, roses are one of the most popular flowers in the world. In the US alone, around 2.8 billion roses are sold each year. However, over the course of their commercialisation, the roses that you can pick up at the supermarket have all but lost the scent they once shared with their wild cousins. The types of roses you can purchase from a shop are called hybrid tea roses and were first created in France in the mid-1800s. Today, the majority of commercial cut roses are grown in countries near the equator, such as Ecuador, and traded around the world. These flowers, however, don't share the same vibrant scent as other garden-variety rose species.