Gnosophysiology– Plant Intelligence is a Thing
Mass murders… Scams…That bundle of branches and leaves in the terracotta pot isn’t dumb at all
We generally think of plants as immobile green dullards obsessed with sunlight, soil, and water. Poor beings that lead simple lives, incapable of thought.
But the question is: Is thought a prerequisite for intelligence?
Let me tell you, quite a few humans are inflicted with a malady called ‘overthinking’. Overthinking rhymes with ka-ching for self-help gurus who make their fortunes offering solutions to people who can’t seem to get off from the merry-go-round of relentless contemplation.
Plants don’t bother with the burden that thought often is. Yet, they accomplish all life processes.
Perhaps it’s time to redefine ‘intelligence’? A new definition that is independent of the abstract concept of ‘mind’ and the mass of neurons we call the ‘brain’?
Enter plant gnosophysiology– a newly emerging field of science that is challenging conventional views and exploring the idea that plants are capable of responding to and learning from stimuli in order to make decisions that would ensure their survival.
Sounds fun?
Below are some points that will ramp up your excitement and change your perspective regarding humanity’s green friends. They are quite the Einsteins, you know!
… Also, Al Capones and Don Corleones (Why? You will find out in the next few paragraphs)
What Defines Intelligence?
There are dozens of different definitions of ‘intelligence’, each slightly varying from the other. Here’s the Merriam-Webster version:
“The ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations.”
The important word here is “learn”. So…
Can Plants Learn?
Research suggests so. We have all seen the touch-me-not plant curl its leaves in defense when shaken or touched. Mimosa pudica is an extremely important plant in the field of plant cognition. The easy maintenance makes it a favorite for experimenters. In the first study, carried out by Pferrer in 1873, repeated mechanical stimulation led to decreased sensitivity in the leaflets.
Monica Gagliano conducted the most famous experiment in recent times, dropping mimosa plants repeatedly from a height. They stopped curling up their leaves because they had ‘learned’ that the dropping stimulus didn’t pose a threat to herbivory.
The amazing part?
The ‘shame plants’ still displayed their shy seismonastic movement when shaken by hand. What does this mean? — The plant can discriminate between stimuli! It can differentiate between being touched and dropped. How cool is that!
Plants have more surprises in store. They have the capability to ‘remember’ recurring environmental stresses such as drought, oxidative stress, abscisic acid, and excessive cold and warm climates. This enables them to prepare for the next time they are exposed to such factors. It is hypothesized that these memories are formed through a complex calcium signaling network.
Can Plants Sense and Move?
Have you observed that the plants on your windowsill grow towards sunlight? This process is known as phototropism. Even mature plants bend towards the strongest light source. Plants do this by elongating the cells of the stem side farthest away from the light. This is possible using the phytohormone auxin and export proteins called PINS, which regulate the direction of auxin flow.
Plants are not just sitting there praying for the light to fall on them like helpless invalids, they are sensing and actively seeking out a shower of photons.
Here are some other ways plants display their remarkable ability to collect info on their surroundings —
Thigmotropism
Thigmotropism is a growth movement occurring as a mechanosensory response to a touch stimulus. The plant curls around an object touching the plant. This particularly happens in creepers. In roots, there is a negative touch response, and they move away after sensing an object. This enables them to grow in the soil with minimum resistance.
‘Hearing’ ability:
Plants can ‘hear’ caterpillars eating leaves and secrete chemicals to make themselves less tasty. Under observation, these plants secreted chemicals when recorded sounds of a munching caterpillar were played. There was no response when other sounds were played. This suggests they can differentiate between sounds.
‘Smelling’ Ability
The parasitic Dodder vine– despised by tomato gardeners– can detect a tomato plant using chemical volatiles released by the tomato plant. Our olfactory system functions in a similar manner. The dodder effectively smells out its host.
Gravitropism
Plants can sense gravity. Stems grow away from gravity and roots grow towards it. Ever seen trees maintain vertical orientation despite steep slopes? Yup, that’s gravitropism. They know which way’s up!
Rapid Movement
Sundews, bladderworts, starfruit, the telegraph plant, and venus fly traps also exhibit rapid movement, aside from Mimosa pudica.
In venus fly traps, the sensitive hairs trigger the closing mechanism. More than one hair must be touched within a set time frame so that the plant can ensure that it has really caught an insect and not an inanimate object floating in the air. Furthermore, digestion begins only after five stimuli to safeguard against trapping objects with no nutritional value.
Can Plants Communicate?
Plants communicate not just with their fellows but with animals too. For example, some species, when attacked by aphids, secrete chemicals that attract bugs that eat aphids. This is the same as an SOS call.
Did you know? Plants can communicate with family, and conspire against strangers belonging to different species
Plants can identify relatives i.e., those born from the same momma plant. They develop shallower root systems so that everyone is well-fed with nutrients in the soil. This kind of identification is possible through chemicals called exudates secreted by roots.
Strangers get poor treatment, however. A gang of invasive roots is sent to suck up as much water and minerals as possible.
The Time Plants Committed Mass Murder Through Communication
Acacia (now Vachellia) trees not only communicate, but they are also an Italian mafia that can put Don Corleone to shame.
If an Acacia tree is under attack by an herbivore, it releases a cloud of ethylene gas, effectively a distress signal. This warns other trees downwind that increase the production of tannins in their leaves, which turn toxic.
The Acacia trees were behind the mass murder of some 3000 kudu antelopes. Zoologist Wouter Van Hoven uncovered this ghastly crime that was collectively committed by the Acacia trees.
Plants Can Carry Out Complex Scams
Tell me, if these plants aren’t intelligent, how do they carry out sex scams?
A range of flowers (Gorteria diffusa, Ophrys insectifera, Ophrys apifera, Drakaea glyptodon etc) carries out their pollination making idiots out of male insects. Certain parts of these flowers have adapted to look like the female insect, complete with a shiny head and a fake furry body. To make the deception foolproof, they even release allomones similar to the female. Result? — the male comes flying. The poor six-legged little guy doesn’t even realize that the lady he is making love to is actually a dummy.
Plants aren’t doofuses.
Plants aren’t innocent.
Plants are tricksters of the highest order.
Takeaway
We tend to think of plants as vastly different life forms from us, even though at the cellular level all that differentiates plants from animals is the cell wall and a few additional cell organelles like chloroplasts.
The next time you look at a plant, do not underestimate it. You’ll be safer perhaps if you bow and kiss its offered leaf. You would not risk offending the real Godfather who silently pulls the strings while meditating on a pot, would you?
“Because it insults my intelligence and makes me very angry” — Michael Corleone
About the author: Akhoy Jyoti Chaudhury is the creator of Balding Green Hills (https://www.baldinggreenhills.com/). He grew up in the hills of North-east India, and couldn’t help but draw a parallel between the deforestation and the balding heads of people. He decided it was time he did something about the issue.
