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A Laidback Gardener report published Oct. 12, 2026, describes how some plants generate heat in their flowers or reproductive structures. The heat can help spread scent, attract and shelter pollinators, and support pollen transfer; the report says thermogenesis has been documented in 14 plant families.
A report published by Laidback Gardener on Oct. 12, 2026, describes how several plant species generate heat in their flowers or reproductive structures, using it to disperse scents and support interactions with pollinators. The article, reproduced with permission from the Friends of the Montréal Botanical Garden, highlights skunk cabbage, aquatic plants, titan arum and cycads as examples of thermogenesis, a process documented in 14 plant families.
In skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), heat production helps the plant flower in late winter. The report says the emerging growth can bring the plant’s internal temperature to nearly 30 °C (54 °F) above the surrounding air. Its reddish-brown spathe surrounds the inflorescence, holding warmer air around it. The heat can protect the developing flower and pollen from cold and help disperse the plant’s strong, rotting-flesh-like smell to insects emerging from winter dormancy.
The article describes a different pollination sequence in giant water lilies and sacred lotus. As a flower prepares to open at night, its temperature rises, helping release fragrance that attracts beetles. The insects enter the flower and are held inside when petals close. A later heat peak, before the flower reopens, may help dry the stamens and release pollen. Insects then leave carrying pollen and can visit another flower.
The report also covers the tropical titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), whose inflorescence can heat to about 32 °C (90 °F) during flowering. It says energy stored in the plant’s large tuber drives the warming, while the spadix channels odour upward. The article links the heat and scent to the attraction of carrion-feeding insects. It also describes cycads, whose cones produce heat and infrared radiation that may help visiting insects locate them.
Heat as a Pollination Tool
The examples show that heat can serve plants in more than one way. For species flowering in cold conditions, such as skunk cabbage, warming can help protect reproductive structures and make early flowering possible. For tropical species, where avoiding frost is not the main advantage, heat can help carry scent and create a warmer environment for pollinating insects.
These interactions matter because pollination depends on plants and insects encountering one another at the right time. The report describes heat as a possible signal, a way to spread odour, and, in some flowers, a thermal resource for insects. In cycads, infrared radiation may act as a beacon for insects with heat-sensitive antennae. The article presents these functions as explanations for particular plant-pollinator relationships, not as a single mechanism shared identically by every species.
The report says thermogenesis is energy-intensive and has been documented in 14 plant families. More than a hundred thermogenic species belong to the arum family, Araceae, according to the article. Finding the trait across distantly related groups points to convergent evolution: similar functions arose in different plant lineages.
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A Trait Across Plant Lineages
Thermogenesis in plants has been known in examples such as skunk cabbage and arums, but the report describes the list of plants with the ability as continuing to grow. It names species in families including Araceae, Nymphaeaceae, Nelumbonaceae, Rafflesiaceae, Zamiaceae, Arecaceae, Annonaceae, Magnoliaceae, Liliaceae and Winteraceae. Many are described as evolutionarily ancient plants with fleshy reproductive structures that rely on insects for pollination.
The article is not a new experimental study. Laidback Gardener says it reproduced the piece with permission from the Friends of the Montréal Botanical Garden; the original publication was in Quatre-Temps. Its examples range from a plant that flowers in late-winter wetlands to aquatic flowers and tropical species, illustrating different proposed roles for heat rather than one universal pollination system.
The source also notes that researchers have proposed thermogenesis may occur more broadly across the plant kingdom, though it is not equally pronounced in all plants. It suggests heat production in lotus and skunk cabbage may have helped those plants reproduce in colder or less favourable regions. The report frames that possibility as a proposal, not a settled conclusion.
““This process, called thermogenesis, is an adaptation found in several plant species.””
— Laidback Gardener, reproducing material from the Friends of the Montréal Botanical Garden
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What Researchers Still Need to Establish
The report does not identify the studies behind each example or provide methods and measurements beyond the stated temperature figures. It also does not specify how many plant species have been tested across the families it names. The figure of 14 families is presented as the number in which thermogenesis has been documented, but the article gives no date range or survey method for that count.
Some functions are described cautiously. In particular, the report says the second heat peak in aquatic flowers “appears” to help dry stamens and that cycad infrared radiation “may” act as a beacon. The broader proposal that thermogenesis could occur throughout the plant kingdom is also unconfirmed in the source. It remains unclear how widely low-level heat production occurs and how often it has a measurable role in pollination.
The article ends partway through its account of Macrozamia lucida, an Australian cycad pollinated by thrips. It says the plant encourages thrips that developed in male cones to move on, but the supplied report does not complete the description of what follows. No additional details about that interaction can be confirmed from the material provided.
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Further Plant Heat Discoveries
The report says the list of thermogenic plants continues to grow as new discoveries are made. That leaves further research to establish which species generate heat, how their temperatures change during flowering, and whether the heat functions as a pollinator signal, a means of scent dispersal, protection from cold or some combination of these.
For readers interested in the specific examples, the article points to the Montréal Botanical Garden, where a few skunk cabbage specimens can be seen in the First Nations Garden. The report does not announce a new garden program, study or timetable. Its immediate development is the publication of an accessible account of existing observations and proposed explanations, with additional research needed to test how broadly the mechanisms apply.
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Key Questions
What does thermogenesis mean in plants?
Thermogenesis is the production of heat. In the examples described in the report, plants generate heat in their flowers or other reproductive structures.
Why does skunk cabbage produce heat?
The report says warmth can help protect the developing flower and pollen in late-winter cold. It can also help disperse the plant’s strong odour, attracting insects when they are emerging from winter dormancy.
How can heat help aquatic flowers get pollinated?
According to the report, heat helps sacred lotus and giant water lilies release fragrance that attracts beetles. The flowers can hold insects overnight, then release them carrying pollen when the flowers reopen.
Is heat production found in every plant?
No. The article says thermogenesis has been documented in 14 plant families and notes a proposal that it may occur more broadly, but at different levels. That wider distribution remains a research question.
Is this a newly published scientific study?
No new study is announced in the source. Laidback Gardener published a report on Oct. 12, 2026, reproduced with permission from the Friends of the Montréal Botanical Garden; the material was originally published in Quatre-Temps.
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