Do they occur naturally?
Yes, they occur naturally.
They occur naturally, but you said you toured “a facility where they were produced.” Can we assume, then, that this facility processes or modifies a naturally occurring item in some way?
Or does the facility simply package it up as-is and ship it out?
Is the Y something that was once part of the X in its naturally occurring form but now isn’t?
Or was the Y added by the aforementioned facility?
It does all of these things.
Y is normally part of X in its naturally occurring form. It is not added by this facility.
Is it seedless grapes?
Or something similar? Like a fruit or vegetable that has been bred to remove a particular feature?
Is x a flower, and y a scent?
Okay, just reviewed and noticed that it isn’t something you’d normally eat.
Is it a material that you can make things out of? Wood? Cork? Cotton?
A herb or spice? (not something you’d normally eat on its own)
A dye?
Is it a plant? Animal? Fungus? Bacteria? Protista? Archaea? Or part of, or extracted from, or a byproduct of one of them?
I was just about to ask the same thing, when your edit popped in. While thinking that only on the Dope would we be exhaustive about the kingdoms.
No to seedless grapes. Yes to something similar (though not fruit / vegetable).
YES!
Yes to plant / plant part, no to the rest of these.
About 80% solved at this point, but what’s left is the “why,” which is the lateral part.
So we have a flower that used to be known for its scent, but nowadays they’re often lacking in scent, and we have to figure out why. Correct?
Is the flower a rose?
Is it a hyacinth?
Is it a lilac?
Does the lack of scent relate to the way in which the flower is pollinated?
If so, is pollination by insects relevant?
I’m thinking that the flowers used to be primarily pollinated by insects, and they attracted the insects by scent, so there was strong selective pressure on the flowers to have scent, but now, due either to more effective human pollination, a decrease in insect pollination, or both, there isn’t so much pressure, and so the scent is reverting.
That was one of two explanations I thought of.
The other is that the breeders of the flowers don’t want the scent, because the scent attracts insects, and many of the people who buy flowers are afraid of and/or disgusted by insects.
I’m thinking roses (as most of us here are now) and I’m thinking the Netherlands which exports a lot of roses (as well as tulips).
I’m also thinking, like so many other plants, they are being selected for appearance and ability to be shipped long distances, and that this selection has taken priority over scent, which results in varieties that look good, last a long time, and are less prone to damage in shipping…but no longer have the distinctive pungent scent.
Like so many other plant varieties that have been selected for looks and robustness in shipping at the expense of flavor and other traits.
Yes.
Roses.
Yes, indeed!
YES! I think this is close enough to consider it solved (although the explanation I got wasn’t so much about customers being afraid / disgusted as about the nuisance factor of having to deal with insects in the greenhouses).
Ecuador, and that may also be the case – but as they explained it, the scent would also create an additional practical challenge that they’d have to deal with (see above for the solution), rather than just being something they were choosing not to prioritize.
Whoops. As usual, I don’t have one ready. And I’m really bad at thinking up these things; I tend to come up with things I think might be hard but which get solved in a couple of guesses.
So I’ll try to think of something; but anybody who wants to, feel free to step in.