Can plants talk to us? Many gardeners believe that communing with flowers helps them grow faster. Now some researchers believe that plants are speaking back.
'You are here to tell our stories' said the oak
Can plants talk to us? Many gardeners believe that communing with flowers helps them grow faster. Now some researchers believe that plants are speaking back.
Laura Beloff was at her desk when the clicking began.
The artist and researcher had linked a plant to a microphone, which fed into software that lets humans hear high-pitched sound. The plant seemed to have something to say. And to Beloff alone: when other people entered the room, the clicking stopped. She said: "I still don't know what to think of it."
Beloff is not the only one listening to plants. Former marine biologist Monica Gagliano claims that plants talk to her. Gagliano's dreamt of a tree calling her to Peru, where she went through a shamanic ritual to hear plants sing. Afterwards, a fern taught her the word Oryngham; plant for thank you. She now speaks to plants regularly.
Such claims could be ridiculed. But Beloff and Gagliano are eminent, well-respected individuals. And there is a gathering swell of scientists coming around to the idea that plants are more intelligent than we assume.
Believers argue that humans really know very little. It is estimated that 86% of plant and animal species remain unknown to us. We should stop being surprised that there are things beyond our knowledge.
Many strange and wondrous things are true in nature. We know that many animals use forms of language. Ravens haggle for food and tools. Prairie dogsLarge burrowing rodents that live on the grasslands of North America. use nouns, verbs and adjectives. Alston's singing mice perform duets.
Plants have incredible abilities. Venus fly traps can count. PandoLatin for I spread, a reference to the group's 100 acre extent. Quaking aspen trees "clone" themselves through a shared root system., a group of quaking aspen trees in Utah, has survived for at least 80,000 years by spawning genetically identical clones.
One experiment by Gagliano even suggested that plants have a memory. She repeatedly dropped mimosas - a plant that close its leaves when touched - onto foam. After a while, the plants stopped closing, as if it knew the fall would be harmless.
There is no proof that plants can talk. But heaps of research suggests that they can communicate. They send chemical signals through their roots to alert other plants to their presence. Trees locate underground nutrients with the help of microbes. One study in Israel found plants upping the sugar in their nectar whenever a bee buzzed past.
Sceptics are hesitant that this sort of communication equals talking. Language is a very specific, rare faculty. Plants do not possess the brains or neuronsNeurons, also known as nerve cells, are cells in the nervous system that use chemical or electrical signals to transmit information throughout the body. that allow humans to speak.
Speech seems to require cognition. When plants can react to things, they may be doing so instinctively, rather than by thinking. As plant biologist David Robinson says: "They've got nothing to do with a thought process."
We have been down this route before. The 1973 bestseller The Secret Life of Plants claimed that pot plants can read minds. It was quickly debunked as pseudoscienceA belief system that claims to be scientific and factual, but does not use the scientific method and cannot be verified..
Others say that anything is possible. Recent research has found vast variety in types of intelligence. Octopi are so different to us, for instance, that philosopher Amia Srinivasan compares them to "intelligent aliens". Perhaps plants can talk, but in a way still alien to us.
<h5 class=" eplus-wrapper">Can plants talk to us?</h5>
Yes: Plants are astonishing. They can react to our touch, recognise family members and even call over wasps to attack caterpillars. There is evidence that they can communicate. It does not seem like an enormous leap of faith to suggest that they can talk.
No: At a time when nature seems more important than ever, it makes sense to humanise plants to make them seem worth protecting. And plants have incredible abilities. But to claim that they can talk is wishful thinking.
Or... It is short-sighted to think about language only in the way we use it. It might be absurd to suggest plants can speak, but the way they share information is marvellous - and not something to ignore.
Prairie dogs - Large burrowing rodents that live on the grasslands of North America.
Pando - Latin for I spread, a reference to the group's 100 acre extent. Quaking aspen trees "clone" themselves through a shared root system.
Neurons - Neurons, also known as nerve cells, are cells in the nervous system that use chemical or electrical signals to transmit information throughout the body.
Pseudoscience - A belief system that claims to be scientific and factual, but does not use the scientific method and cannot be verified.
‘You are here to tell our stories’ said the oak

Glossary
Prairie dogs - Large burrowing rodents that live on the grasslands of North America.
Pando - Latin for I spread, a reference to the group’s 100 acre extent. Quaking aspen trees “clone” themselves through a shared root system.
Neurons - Neurons, also known as nerve cells, are cells in the nervous system that use chemical or electrical signals to transmit information throughout the body.
Pseudoscience - A belief system that claims to be scientific and factual, but does not use the scientific method and cannot be verified.