SUNNY’S SHIELD TERPENE LAB

Plant science, put to work.

Are essential oils fatty oils?

Essential oils aren’t fatty oils like olive or coconut oil. They’re concentrated mixtures of volatile plant compounds, often rich in terpenes and terpenoids.

Every oil connected to its compounds. Drag nodes, scroll to zoom, click a node to open it.

Sunlight streaming through a living forest
BEYOND AROMA

The forest isn't silent.

Plants send chemistry into the air around us. Other plants, insects, animals and humans can receive those molecules.

Bee pollinating lavender
Attract. Scent guides pollinators. The same airborne chemistry reaches us through smell, and some plant compounds interact with human biological systems.
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Plants have been speaking in chemistry for hundreds of millions of years.

Other plants respond to these signals. Humans sense them too.
Sunlight passing through green leaves
Signal. Damage can change what a plant releases. Nearby plants can detect airborne compounds and alter their own biology in response.

Plants clearly exchange chemical information with the living world around them. We know humans receive these molecules too, especially through smell. How much of that ancient chemical conversation extends to us is still being worked out.

“Language” is a metaphor for chemical signaling studied in chemical ecology. It does not imply conscious speech.