Why Do Roses Have Thorns?

Why Do Roses Have Thorns?

A very interesting question, and this can be answered from a number of different perspectives.

Philosophically speaking, the rose is a very symbolic image of love. It can be said that roses have thorns to remind us that even though something is beautiful, it doesn’t mean that it can’t or won’t hurt use. And because a rose so strongly symbolizes love, it can also be that to enjoy something as wonderful as love or a rose, you may have to be hurt by the thorns, or else, even love can sometimes hurt you.

Also, it is important to look at this question scientifically. ‘Why, questions are difficult in science, but you always have to look at the purpose for the organism (if you are talking biology) itself to have what ever it is that you are looking at to explain, and not to look at the organism as something that just exists for our enjoyment. A rose has to have a protection method, to prevent other animals to eat it. The sweetest smelling roses have to have the best thorns, because their scents attract animals, and are more likely to be eaten, unless of course they have a defense system.

Of course, it should really be stated that the best thorns have the sweetest smelling roses, as the thorns would have evolved first. Because they have better thorns, the roses could then begin to smell sweeter to attract the bees and other insects to spread their pollen. Had the sweet aromas evolved first, they would have been eaten by other animals, and then their pollen could not have been spread. So definitely the aroma had to evolve second.

Nowadays, there are so many roses grown now and protected that they don’t really have to worry about being eaten. It is of no matter; however, as the roses have already evolved to include their thorns, and it will take quite some time to lose them, even though they have become quite ineffectual.