Why do humans like flowers?

Dorian Gray said:
It's like asking why we sow and harvest certain plants, but not others, when certainly the number of edible plants far exceeds our commonly consumed ones.

Preference.
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Or efficiency, at least in the region where they were first domesticated. I find it likely that the plants people tended to domesticate were:
a) the ones that they liked to eat.
i) because they had high energy or nutrition content relative to the effort of gathering them.
b) the ones that were easiest to grow.
 
Flowers often become fruit. Noticing a flowering tree today may make a person more likely to remember where it was a month later (or however long) when there is some fruit that could be gathered and eaten.

But of course it may not be so direct as that. Flowers are colourful and obvious. The strategies that they use to attract the attention insects may simply happen to be good at stimulating our nervous systems as well. And perhaps a stimulated nervous system just happens to feel pleasurable, as a by-product of the fact that our brains are designed to get pleasure out of other forms of stimulation.

I find the question interesting, but no answers yet. :)
 
I definitely doubt that we've evolved to have a preference for flowers, but rather that we've bred flowers to be appealing to us through artificial selection.

Of course there might have been some root ancestor group our ours that slung it's daddy goo around the entire pre-human population and had the perfect nose for lilacs, but I figure the fact that we grow and sell little seed packets is a lot more likely to be the explanation for flowers being so "nice".
 
Cainkane1 said:
We can't eat them. Most are poisonous. Yet we pick them, we plant them and we enjoy looking at them. Why?
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we spent quite some time as hunter gatherers, being able to identify tasty roots from the pretty thing on top has been bred into us as a survival trait
;)
 
popscythe said:
I definitely doubt that we've evolved to have a preference for flowers, but rather that we've bred flowers to be appealing to us through artificial selection.
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I think we've definitely bred flowers to be more appealing, but it's also certainly true that we still find wild flowers to be beautiful, and thus the question still remains.
 
I think it might have something to do with the fact that they are different colors from everything else that grows, which is all green. I think people like unique things.

I think nowadays, they are liked because they are non-utilitarian. Also, it means you have land you don't have to devote to feeding yourself. It is a form of conspicuous consumption. To give someone a gift of flowers means you have disposable income. Since they aren't resell-able, they mean the person recieving them isn't concerned about their cost.

Also, they are pretty, and smell nice.
 
They make great artistic subjects...Plus, what's going to get a girls attention, a rose bouquet or a basket of brussel sprouts?
 
By prettying up your place of residence you create an artificial measure by which you can look down on, and criticize your neighbors who do not conform to your ideals. It provides you a means of feeling of good about yourself while ignore the horrible secrets you keep bottled up inside.

Or because they smell nice.
 
bokonon said:
That's an interesting question. Also, why should they smell good to us? It's not like we're going to be pollinating them. Maybe it's just because the sugar water they use to attract bees is also sugar we could use.
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Some flowers smell like rotting meat, are we now supposted to like the smell or rotting meat?
 
Eyeron said:
The flowers off the Mansanita bushes are edible. Also,

* Artichoke (flower bud)
* Broccoli (flower buds)
* Cauliflower (flower buds)
* Chamomile (for tea)
* Chives (flowers or buds)
* Chrysanthemum (flower)
* Citrus blossoms (lemon, orange, lime, grapefruit)
* Clover
* Daisies (Bellis perennis quills)
* Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale leaves, roots, flowers, petals, buds)
* Daylilies (Hemerocallis buds, flowers, petals)
* Elderflower (blossoms for drink)
* Hibiscus
* Honeysuckle
* Jasmine (for tea)
* Lilac (salads)
* Nasturtium (blossoms and seeds)
* Osmanthus fragrans (flower)
* Pansies (Viola x Wittrockiana flowers, petals)
* Pot Marigolds (Calendula officinalis petals with white heel removed)
* Roses (Rosa petals with white heel removed, rose hips)
* Sesbania grandiflora (flower)
* Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus buds, petals, seeds)
* Violet ('leaf and flowers in salads, candied flowers for pastry decoration')
* Zucchini blossoms (blossoms)

Are edible.
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And that doesn't even count the narcotic compounds available from some flowers!

Blue Lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) and probably other lotuses
Opium Poppy ( Papaver somniferum)
Marijuana (Cannabis sativa)

. . .just a few off the top of my head. I'm sure other flowers figure into some hallucinogenic shaman's drinks.
 
Cainkane1 said:
We can't eat them. Most are poisonous. Yet we pick them, we plant them and we enjoy looking at them. Why?
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Most are poisonous? I doubt that very much.

And there are plenty of substances that humans make use of that are toxic or intoxicating. We can even find the aposematic coloration of poisonous and venomous animals to be aesthetically pleasing, even if we would still keep our distance.

I think humans tend to like bright colors. I can think of several reasons for this. Edible fruits often turn bright colors when they're ripe, for one. (And let's not forget the connection between flowers and fruits.)
 
If you look at us genetically, just a small portion of the genes are "human", as in unique to us. We have 10s of millions of years of evolution behind us, driving our behavior. I think it's a mistake to look for something human specific in things like this. It's also a mistake to look for a 'reason' - many things are just side effects. Color vision is useful to many animals - but it would be useless if they weren't attracted by the colors. Likewise, stimulation is useful - the more we get and pay attention to and process, the better our (all animals) interaction with the world, the safer we are, and the more food and shelter we get. So, it's not surprising that brains don't get all giddy over looking at a gray blank surface, and that the more stimulation there is the more brains find it 'interesting'. You've got a sea of green, and then some small blue/red/yellow things. How interesting! It doesn't matter if that blue flower has an evolutionary advantage to Homo Sapiens. If the Homo Sapiens brain evolved to seek out and/or notice novel sensations (and it has), then the Homo Sapien brain will be interested in a completely useless blue flower just as a side effect.
 
Cainkane1 said:
We can't eat them. Most are poisonous. Yet we pick them, we plant them and we enjoy looking at them. Why?
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It's doubtfult that there's an adaptive relationship.

We like colour and lines and other types of visual stimulation.

Flowers have these properties, but not for our sake.

Except for the ones that are cultured. They are literally the way they are because of our requirements.
 
Flowers, like sunsets, are pretty because we have fairly complete color vision. Without them the land is green, beige, and gray and the sky is somewhere between blue and gray. As hunters we are attuned to differentness, be it color or motion. We eat things that move and gaze upon things that are colorful.
 
I sometimes wonder if..., on a planet far far away, there is a race of flowers that propigate human beings.
They lovingly allow them to grow wild and free, or managed in gardens or 'planter boxes' and pots.
And when the humans mature, pluck off their genitals and display them in vases to beautify their homes.
 
popscythe said:
I see what you did there.

Genital Collector.
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The little girl flowers make people chains to wear around their heads and necks.
The ladies pin them behind their ears and, to apologise, the men buy bunches of genitals when they've been at the Stamen club too long drinking
 
You could keep that going into a weird short... piece of writing... and sell it to some magazine, assuredly.
 
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