All plants, even cacti, communicate with each other by the use of volatiles. They send out signals to steer reproduction, the flowers that attract bee colonies and monitor this all at the same time, they can warn each other, brace themselves for a pest and ask for help from a pest-eating insect, all by the use of scent. I wonder how we can practice empathetic behavior towards other beings, even when they are so often overlooked. How can we study and learn about the language of plants, so we can eventually try to understand them a little bit better?
Michael Pollan, author of such books as “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “The Botany of Desire,” wrote the New Yorker piece about the developments in plant science. He says for the longest time, even mentioning the idea that plants could be intelligent was a quick way to being labeled “a whacko.” But no more..
Photo by Lorena van Bunningen