New research has shown plants do communicate and are exchanging complex information with each other, with insects, animals, even humans. Dutch designer Merle Bergers translates plant communication into three scents with Lingua Planta. 

Lingua Planta started out as a research project on botanical linguistics and plant intelligence. After graduating cum laude at the Design Academy Eindhoven, Merle developed Lingua Planta into a line of home perfumes. There is something magical and poetic about her creations, while being deeply rooted in research and science.

Merle experienced the inter-connectedness of plants and trees, insects and bigger animals firsthand by growing up in a small forest in the east of the Netherlands. During her studies she grew more and more fascinated by the possible reality of plant communication. Nourished through books by the likes of forester ecologist Peter Wohlleben and writer-scientist Daniel Chamovitz she went on a journey to dig deep into the matter of plants fragrant messages. "Lingua Planta was found driven by a mission; to create scents that convey the language of plants. All plants communicate using olfactory molecules. The linguistic composition of these scent molecules form extremely elaborate and specific messages. Guided by our noses and the latest science, we made some beautiful perfumes composed to shift our perspective from human to plant-perspective. We source plant extracts from around the world.The Lingua Planta perfumes are based on the main olfactory messages plants send to each-other. Attract, repel and defend. These are molecular build perfumes with essential oils that from plants rooted in nature. All Lingua Planta perfumes are hand-blended in Utrecht, the Netherlands, artisinally made with natural essential oils, ecologic where possible and with our love for nature and all things natural in our mind, heart, and noses". Three fine scents Lingua Planta

Attract, Repel, and Defend—are the three communicative signals that plants send out.

Attract: Bees and butterflies encounter a Bulgarian rose. Attract is based on the ways flowers attract pollinators with their floral scent molecules. A rosy, fresh perfume leads you deep into an empathetic understanding of the olfactory language of plants. 

Repel: Invoked by the invigorating scent of vetiver, bergamot, galbanum and citrus oils, you imagine yourself sitting underneath a lemon tree in a Sicilian vegetable garden in spring. 

Defend: Green broken stems, trampled grass and seeping tree resins reminisce a forest walk. Cedarwood, the smell of fresh cut grass, oakmoss and agarwood invite us to think about the regenerative aspects of a forest.