Plant Emissions. Plants emit gases that trigger the ripening of fruit, attract pollinators, and cue other physiological responses.

N. Agelopolous et al. examined factors that affect the emission of volatile compounds by the potato plant Solanum tuberosum and published their findings in the paper “Factors Affecting Volatile Emissions of Intact Potato Plants, Solanum tuberosum: Variability of Quantities and Stability of Ratios” (Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol. 26(2), pp. 497–511). The volatile compounds analyzed were hydrocarbons used by other plants and animals. Following are data on plant weight (x), in grams, and quantity of volatile compounds emitted (y), in hundreds of nanograms, for 11 potato plants.

x 57 85 57 65 52 67 62 80 77 53 68 y 8.0 22.0 10.5 22.5 12.0 11.57.5 13.0 16.5 21.0 12.0