Individual identity olfactory responses

Distantly related plants, such as rose, jasmin, and lavender have quite independently gone down this road of complexity, based on different groups of chemical constituents. We may conclude, therefore, that complexity of odor has evolved as being the most effective way of evoking a desired response from an animal with the ability to smell and the ability to memorize odor. What is remarkable is that the particular combinations of materials that individual flowers produce to make up their fragrance have, to our own sense of smell, an identity far greater than a random mixture of as many ill-assorted chemicals. Perhaps we may infer from this, in view of the similarity of our receptor cells, that the balance of materials is as important to the olfactory mechanism of the bee as it is to our own in producing a sense of identity and aesthetic pleasure. 

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