“Efficient fragrance” brings in bumblebees, as reported in Science, 3 Aug 2001, p763.
Snapdragons attract bumblebees with their colourful petals and then entice them to land inside the flower by producing a scent. Botanists studied the biochemical pathway that produces the scent and found it is only active in the inner surface cells of the flowers precisely where a bumblebee needs to land when foraging for nectar. The cells are cone shaped so that they have a large surface area to give off the scent.
Editorial Comment: The localisation of this chemical pathway to the part of the flowers where it is most effective reminds us of another problem for evolutionists. It is not enough to evolve a biochemical pathway to make a new functional feature in an organism. In order for it to work effectively the organism also need a way of turning it on in the places it is needed and keeping it turned off in others places. Every cell in the snapdragon plant has the genetic information for producing fragrance but it would be no use if it were activated in leaves or roots. Just as well the Creator knew where and how to turn it on.
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