What a plant knows: A Field Guide to the senses, Scientific American 2017

A recent and precise pedagogical sum from a great Israeli biologist on the latest discoveries about plants and their senses (smell, taste, touch, sight, hearing, memory, orientation). Do you understand? It’s not about our senses, but theirs!

The conclusion of the book is just as amazing. The author does not know if plants are intelligent since the definition is made for humans but what seems certain in his mind is that plants are conscious. They are even incredibly aware of their surroundings. Humans are of course part of this environment, but only to some extent that we do not yet know how to assess.

They are therefore also aware of the physical damage they are suffering from but do not seem to experience pain, at our stage of knowledge.

We share a common part of our genetic heritage with plants, but our evolution has been radically different. How can we better find this common heritage in order to better understand them?