Flower Preference

Although the aesthetic appreciation of flowers is a well-known aspect of human behaviour, theories explaining its origin are missing. The only exception is the evolutionary theory of Heerwagen and Orians. Surprisingly, it has not yet been empirically tested."

Source : Evolutionary Human Sciences(2021), 3, e5, page 1 of 22

In order to try to discover why humans appear to have an inbuilt preference for flowers, a research team from Charles University, Faculty of Science, Prague, Czech Republic, set up a series of experiments in 2020.

The experiments tested the theory of Heerwagen and Orians who, in 1995, had suggested that flowers might be a 'cue' for food availability (nectar etc.).

The theory was not confirmed.

Our data imply that human aesthetic responses to flowers cannot be explained solely by this factor, although it might play some role. However, we urgently need data from a broader cultural sample to confirm our limited findings. The question of why humans tend to aesthetically appreciate flowers seems to remain partly unexplored.

[ Source as above ]

The visual appearance of flowers is not the only aspect which humans find attractive. Many flowers are intensely scented, emitting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which have evolved to attract insects and other pollinators. The fact that humans also find a large proportion of these VOCs intensely pleasurable - despite our very very distant shared evolutionary links with insects - is a coincidence that has not yet been explained.