While no one claims that plants “feel” emotions, as humans do, plants do show signs of “sensing” their surroundings. Now researchers are working to see what we can discover about the possibility that plants exhibit intelligence in their adaptations to their environment and changes within it.
No, plants cannot become attached to people in the way that animals might. From a scientific standpoint, plants cannot form emotional attachments to people since they do not have the brain capacity to do so. However, some research studies have suggested that plants may respond to human emotions and touch.
Plants can sense when you're not around
'They can even defend themselves and send signals to other plants near them to warn that danger is near,' says Angela. 'They're much more aware than people may think, so it's very likely that they'll be able to sense when their owner isn't at home.
And since plants do not have brains, nor a central nervous system (which is how intelligence is defined), it is said to be impossible for them to have emotions and the ability to reason or feel.
The research, published in the respected journal Plant Physiology, reveals that plants react in various ways when patted or touched – and may even flower differently or develop greater resistance to pests.
Even so, there are compelling reasons that chatting up your potted pals is good for them — and you. Plants don't interrupt when you're speaking. They don't argue or ask difficult questions. And regardless of whether they're actually listening, research has shown them to be a calming presence.
Your plants really dislike when you touch them, apparently. A new study out of the La Trobe Institute for Agriculture and Food has found that most plants are extremely sensitive to touch, and even a light touch can significantly stunt their growth, reports Phys.org.
The reason for this is that, despite the lack of any kind of cognition, plants have souls too, according to Aristotle's widely-accepted theory: trees and flowers nourish themselves, they grow, and propagate, and so they have what was usually called a vegetative soul.
Do Plants Have Feelings (Or Emotions)? No – unlike humans and non-human animals, plants do not have feelings. It is undeniable that a plant can respond to environmental stimuli, like turning towards the light or closing over a fly.
Generally, houseplants should not touch each other. Science has discovered they can feel touch, so if touched by another plant it can cause a genetic defense response that reduces growth. Alongside this, houseplants that touch could become more easily infested with pests.
They can also sense matter from the above ground parts of the plant that have been washed down by the rain into the ground. Above ground plants smell each other. If plants smell ethylene they know other plants are nearby.
All organisms in natural circumstances, animals, plants and bacteria, are aware of changes in their environment and respond by changing behaviour.
Plants, like most of nature, are usually only acting in their own interests. Keeping another tree alive via underground fungal networks, as trees do, benefits the plant, as a forest is more likely to survive than a tree on its own. Give a potted plant what it wants and it probably won't get too lonely!
Like humans, plants have memories too, although they do it differently. For example, many plants sense and remember prolonged cold during winter to ensure that they flower in spring.
Do plants have a memory? Plants definitely have several different forms of memory, just like people do. They have short term memory, immune memory and even transgenerational memory!
Plants can sense and react to more aspects of their environments than we can, and they maintain bustling social lives by communicating with each other above and below ground. They also interact with other species.
No, plants cannot feel pain. There is no possible way for that to happen without a central nervous system.
Given that plants do not have pain receptors, nerves, or a brain, they do not feel pain as we members of the animal kingdom understand it. Uprooting a carrot or trimming a hedge is not a form of botanical torture, and you can bite into that apple without worry.
“Plants are constantly under environmental stresses. You can actually see how plants respond to those physical stresses because they change their shape,” Dr Kim Johnson says.
Yes, if you use the term “personality” to refer to “intraspecific expression of behaviors that are stable over time and consistent across different situations,” says ecologist Richard “Rick” Karban, an international authority on plant communications and a distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology ...
Although many humans choose to eat both plants and meat, earning us the dubious title of “omnivore,” we're anatomically herbivorous. The good news is that if you want to eat like our ancestors, you still can: Nuts, vegetables, fruit, and legumes are the basis of a healthy vegan lifestyle.
The idea of talking to plants might be deemed crazy and nonsense for many people. Plants don't have brains and are not capable of communicating in any form.
Grouping plants together that thrive in similar conditions, and thus have the same care needs, makes it extra easy to tend to them. And for some, it helps them to form their own mini-biome as well. For example, placing humidity lovers close together can help create a pocket of moisture for every plant in the group.
Plants get stressed, too. While we don't know much about their sensory mechanisms, we do know they can be overstimulated and get stressed. Which begs the question, how do you calm a plant?
It is always a good idea to give them a good shake from time to time," Richard said. But if you don't want to run the risk of doing a bit too rough of a shake, you could always just pop a fan in front of your plants and let that act as a bit of indoor wind.