Thoughts on Intelligent Plants

[DSPE]

Plants respond to the environment, and have 'memories' and 'experiences' of sorts,

Ooh I'd like to see some examples...

I did study botany at college, and my daughter is a plant scientist, so I might be able to give some clues. The 'memories' that a plant creates consist of specialised tissue that grows in response to stimuli in the environment. A plant in a breezy location will grow a stronger and more flexible stem and deeper roots, in order to withstand the wind; if a plant grows in a location where it is overshadowed, it can grow taller and 'reach for the sunlight', and extend more roots in the direction of resources where those resources are out of reach. If a plant has long roots it is well anchored, and can access water and minerals more easily if a drought occurs, and this allows them to 'remember' past conditions and use that 'experience' if the drought reoccurs.

When I was at college 'mycorrhizas' were the next big thing, and maybe they have been overhyped, but it seems a forest with a good mycorrhiza network can out-perform one with a poor one, and so on. This is unusual, since most infections (especially most fungal infections) are deleterious. Mycorrhizas can irrigate the soil for an entire community of plants, and combat microbial disease using antibiotic-like chemicals, so that a wide range of species benefit.

Thank you! I meant examples of depictions of plant intelligence in fiction, but this is also very helpful

[terrafamilia]

Thank you! I meant examples of depictions of plant intelligence in fiction, but this is also very helpful

Here are a couple. I don't know how deep into their evolutionary history the stories go.

The Czill.
https://archive.org/details/barlowes-gui...9/mode/2up

The Dextran
https://archive.org/details/barlowes-gui...6/mode/2up

Ciao,
Terrafamilia

[Godd Howard]

Thank you! I meant examples of depictions of plant intelligence in fiction, but this is also very helpful

Here are a couple. I don't know how deep into their evolutionary history the stories go.

The Czill.
https://archive.org/details/barlowes-gui...9/mode/2up

The Dextran
https://archive.org/details/barlowes-gui...6/mode/2up

Ciao,
Terrafamilia

Barlowe's guide to extraterrestrials, nice! I managed to get a copy of it (and expedition) last year, Wayne Barlowe genuinely is a exceptional illustrator.

[stevebowers]

Greg Bear's novel Legacy, set in the Eon universe, has an example of a sentient biome, which would be an 'envome' in OA terms. Both the animals and plants are all tied together in a single consciousness, which does not really act like it is self-aware or sophont, but is highly responsive to events.

I tried to describe something similar at Kammerer, although there the xenoenvome is transapient, if not necessarily sophont. Something like a naturally-evolved transvot, probably.