Green chatterboxes
Have you heard? Not only people and animals communicate with each other, plants also have a lot to say. We won't easily catch them talking for hours about holidays, the latest gossip and the weather, but they communicate in their own way. Plants are real chatterboxes, and if you listen carefully you might be able to understand them.
When animals, insects or pathogens damage a plant, these plants pass on information to their neighbors about the threatening situation. By means of clicking sounds and floating particles that are spread at times of danger, plants signal to each other that they should be aware. The warned plants then prepare for the coming threat by tightening their defense systems, such as activating toxic chemicals, making them less attractive, or attracting the natural enemy of the animal, insect or pathogen.
Plants also communicate with animals and insects through these floating particles. Think of the cheerfully buzzing insects that feed on nectar and thereby pollinate other flowers, and animals that are attracted by the sweet smell of fruits, eat them and thus spread the seeds. On the other hand, in some cases these substances can also intoxicate the natural enemy to protect the plant. The scent makes them go around the plant in a big bow, just like people do when someone wears too much perfume. It’s like the plant says: “Stay away from me!”
Unfortunately, our senses are not good enough to notice the communication of plants, but through research we are discovering more and more about how plants talk to each other. Perhaps someday something will be invented that allows a plant to tell us when and how much water it needs. That would be convenient!
View our range of plants below.