Plant consciousness
Imagine a world where every house plant and tree could see, remember, and judge everything around it. Unfortunately for naked Zumba enthusiasts this is reality not fiction. In this paper, essay or friendly life changing piece of awesome (or what ever you decide to call it) i will go through three major pieces of evidence that may change your mind about how you prune your hedges. The first life changing piece of information is about how plants react when they identify and react to threats. Sooo when the plant hears you screaming about a bug in the house it has already started thinking of ways to defend itself from the bug because it knows you are gonna throw the bug it the poor helpless bush. Next is sight, smell and communication, You know that friend – yeah you know the one i’m talking about, the one who is color blind – well whenever they leave their house looking like an idiot because they don’t know that they are wearing green and red, the plant closest to him can let all of their buddies know so they can laugh point and stare. That isn’t wind ruffling the leaves. They’re laughing at you maybe you should rethink your outfit dude. Then as previously stated in this essay of awesome we will talk about plants ability to empathize with other organisms and remember the people and things they see. remember that awkward time that you cried in the woods or against a tree and you for some reason felt better. If this has not happened to you you either hate trees or are a hollow shell of a human devoid of all reason and emotion. But the tree may have felt bad for your hollow human suit. And the memory piece: well if you were burned you would remember it and so do trees. Ever looked at tree rings? There may be a black ring or deformity. This may be fire scarring. Unfortunately the tree can’t call the wambulance when its on fire and has to suck it up and say F@#$ you fire i’m gonna grow anyway.
“Sir, we have lost the lower energy gathering panels! Quick sterilize the area, send out the terpenes to kill the invaders. Call to the chalcid wasps for assistance quick”. Meanwhile all that is happenings you pulled a branch off of a pine tree to make a smore stick. This is a dramatization but there is some truth to what is written. There is a volatile response evolved in plants to protect itself when damaged. the black box recording was from a brave scots pine who was mauled by the saw fly bug . Here is its story. It started innocently enough with a bug landing on the pine but the pine sensed something different about this bug. Oh no it it is a sawfly. It watched in horror as the bug began depositing eggs on the tree. It sent out a distress signal for help begging for the chalcid wasps for there help. These wasps did not answer its cries. The pine watches the eggs develop and hatch the caterpillar like grubs. Then begin to devour the trees needles. The tree sends out pine resin (that sticky stuff which is impossible to get off of your hands) to kill the bugs, but it is uneffective and the grubs go on to mate and harm more trees in the forsake zone. ( Beyaert)
The plant consciousness doesn’t end there. There are more ways they communicate and perceive the world that may blow your mind. Ever notice how fruit always seems to ripen all at the same time and there is no possible way that you can eat the bagillion bananas that you bought before they turn to mush? Maybe there is a reason for this, studies have shown that when a piece of fruit is ripe it releases a pheromone to communicate that it is time to ripen. (Cook ) So the universe isn’t trying to smite you, just the malicious banana army. Switching gears a little the plant sight i mentioned earlier is possible. A researcher found that the same dna coding in humans that allows us to perceive light is also prevalent in plants. ( Cook) maybe you should stop parading around in those dirty underwear in front of your houseplants now. You’re scaring them for life. No wonder they look so sickly. Ok and now something that i find creepy. Have you ever heard of the plant dodder. If not i suggest you research it. It is a predatory plant that cannot photosynthesize. “So how does it grow:? You may ask well i will tell you. It sniffs out a nice soft fleshy victim. And then attaches itself to them. Then using a couple needle like probes leaches the sugars and sap out of a host plant. Using the hosts energy to move on to another victim. (Cook ) Empathy is found in many species around the world: dogs cats even in donald trump – well maybe not the last one. But why is it up to us to decide what does and doesn’t have empathy and the ability to think and feel? For example the world was flat until proven otherwise space didn’t exist and neither did germs. Flight was impossible and even organ transplants. So if someone thinks something as likely as plant conscious is possible you had better believe them if you are a sceptic listen to this: Desert research at the university of israel found that pea plants that were experiencing drought expressed their stress to other plants it shared the soil with and the plants not experiencing drought showed the tell tail signs of drought even though they were perfectly watered (Marder ). And the idea of an interconnected community is not that far off when a tree is attacked by a pest they actually start sending out pheromones to warn other trees of the DOOM !!! In response the surrounding trees start producing chemicals to make them look less appealing or tasty to the attacker. (Cook )
As you cry because you may have realized that this life-changing-piece-of-awesome is almost over, or realizing that you are a plant beater/ murderer, dry your tears and realize that I have one more paragraph. “Oh boy there is another paragraph to change my life and make me complete” said no one ever. But in all seriousness thank you for stroking my ego and reading my high school writen school essay . Hope you stop kicking dandelions. :3
yay work cited
Skirble, Rosanne. “Plants, Humans Share Sensory Awareness.”
http://www.voanews.com/content/plants-humans-share-sensory-awareness/1637966.ht
ml April, 9, 2013 1:28pm.
Cook, Gareth. “Do Plants Think?” Scientific American.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-plants-think-daniel-chamovitz/ June,5,2012
Marder, Michel “If Peas Can Think Should We Eat Them?” The New York Times.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/28/if-peas-can-talk-should-we-eat-them/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 April,28,2010
