Viagra works wonders for flowers

WASHINGTON – There’s nothing like red roses to get the romance flowing. However, if you want that romance to last, you’ll also need some Viagra.

Here’s the catch: The Viagra is for the roses.

The British Medical Journal published a study that found the popular erectile-dysfunction drug also has a stimulating affect on flowers.

Researchers discovered that when 1 mg of Viagra was placed in two vases of cut roses, the flowers stood up straight – without wilting – for as long as a week past their natural life span.

Similar to the drug’s effect on male sex organs, researchers found Viagra slows the breakdown of the same enzyme in flowers.

If your flowers last longer than four weeks, you may want to contact a florist.

WTOP’s David Burd contributed to this report. Follow @DavidBurdWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2013 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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