Chemical communication in plants and their semiochemicals.

This paper describes the protective ability of Betula against its defoliators. Leaf alcohol is a stabilized alcoholic substance found in the leaves of Betula that acts as ecohormone in other leaves of the same species, a pheromone in the leaves of other individual of the same species and allelochemicals to the leaves of other species. This substance contains large amounts of phenol that makes it lethal to newborn hatchlings. Leaf alcohol is a common semiochemical in all plants which they use to protect themselves from defoliators.