Not that I ever put any stock in it, but sure, I talk to my plants. “What the hell’s the matter with you? Melita’s orchid has 28 blossoms and you’re just a stalk!”
Melita says the problem is I’m talking the wrong way. “You need to be more flattering with an orchid,” she said. “Plants can sense communication.”
I hate it when Melita’s right.
That’s why I am so happy that she’s pretty wrong as well. According to a new study, plants can indeed sense communication, and I am indeed talking to mine the wrong way. But whether I cuss or praise, it won’t make no nevermind.
Plants talk to plants. The beach-dwelling sea rocket (see photo, left) appears to be able to recognize its kin, and be nicer, if you will, when growing alongside its family. It grows aggressively next to unrelated neighbors but it’s less competitive when sharing the soil with siblings.
Kyoto researchers say that certain plants send out SOS signals to their nearby siblings when they’re getting chewed up by insects. The siblings respond by producing chemicals that attract wasps that prey on the unwanted bugs.
But how the plants figure out which of their neighbors are siblings is still a mystery.
Learning and memory appear to be important for kin recognition in animals, but that isn’t an option for plants.
Some researchers speculate that plants communicate through their roots, identifying themselves using tiny chemical signatures specific to each plant’s family. And that isn’t an option for people.
So much for convincing my orchid to bloom. But I’m used to not being listened to. I have teenagers. And one thing I like about plants is they don’t talk back. As I said, I have teenagers.
(By the way, the woman in this photo is neither me nor Melita. It’s a photo by Mary Tuab that I got from Fickr of someone named Nancy.)
I wonder if a plant can communicate with a couch potato?
Very cool. Here’s a “link”:http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/content/6241377640t332n7/ to the article available for free viewing from Biology Letters.
I was wondering how they actually communicate with each other, and the best I gather is that they do so through their roots, by touch. So while all may appear fine and dandy above ground, below the surface might be a cauldron of boiling fear and desire. Maybe someday we’ll really know what they’re saying.
Yes, Jorge - It’s turning out to be a chatty world. Who (what) is going to be discovered having a conversation next? I just can’t see rocks arguing with rocks, or even waves whispering to a sandy shore, but then again, I always pooh-poohed the kooks who believed plants could communicate.
Eleanor
While I no longer trust anything coming out of Kyoto, this makes a lot more sense than an agreement on alleged climate change that couldn’t possibly work, even if the climate was changing due to humans. I have never believed plants can hear (they must have very small ears if they can).