Do Plants Have Feelings?

Most of us never consider plants as sensory beings. Whatever nature throws at them, they remain rooted to their spot. To grow and give us a healthy life, they sense their nearby surroundings and react.

Like human beings, they influence each other and transmit through a process of “nanomechanical oscillations.” Their unique ability to react to wind, sunlight, rain, gravity, and insects makes them evolutionary successful, but made scientists go through the research whether they have feelings or not?

They being referred to as sentient life forms with their nastic and tropic conveying to stimuli have made us write this blog and help readers with their confusion “Do Plants have Feelings or Not”?

Can plants see things like us?

The photoperiodism process involves the physiological reaction of a plant to change the length of light and darkness on a daily, seasonal, or yearly basis. It also shows that plants decide when to grow or to flower. The florigen, which is a flowering signal, responds to the amount of light a plant gets.

To better understand, let’s talk about Daffodils.

We plant them in autumn, and they start blooming in late winter or early spring. As the season changes, they sense lighter and show feelings of positivity with their growth. Here’s how different colors affect plant growth.

Can plants hear things?

The plants release ultrasonic sounds following particular stimuli to improve plant production and protection. As per biorxiv.org, an observation on Evening Primroses, it has been noticed that plants hear the sound waves of passing bee wings. By an increase of 20% sugar concentration in the plant’s nectar, they responded.

Can plants smell things?

It is interesting to come across the fact that “Plants do smell.” As per botanist Daniel Chamovitz, plants can smell other plants. They’re aware when their fruit is ripe, or their neighboring plant is cut off or is eaten by a starving bug. They don’t have olfactory nerves, but their brain does interpret signals.

With the discovery of volatile chemicals in the air, the conversion of signals occurs, resulting in a physiological reaction.

Can plants communicate with each other?

With the production of chemical signals in reply to the environment, they share signals. The soil and the air are two routes through which the signals pass.

In one experiment of sagebrush and lima beans, it was noticed that they modified their internal chemistry with the help of airborne messages. As the insects badly damaged the sagebrush leaves. In the summertime, other sagebrush branches were less affected by the insects, showing they transmitted the anti-insect defenses.

It completely shows airborne cues improve the seedling survival helping other long-lived plants have new flowers and branches.

Plants have a sensory system. They know how to respond to the dangers taking place in their environment. With their single layer of the epidermis, they allow sunlight to get into their inner-layer, which is responsible for photosynthesis.