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Why plants can't talk?
Hi Soumya,
plants do talk but in a different way than human talk to each other.
1. Plants can call for help
When you inhale the sweet smell of freshly mown grass or cut flowers, what we are actually smelling is the plant’s distress call. The scent attracts insects that will eat the pests currently munching on their plant-bodies.
Example: the wild tobacco plant can identify a hornworm caterpillar by its saliva. When attacked by this caterpillar, the tobacco plant emits a chemical signal that appeals to the insect’s enemies. Within hours, caterpillar predators like the big-eyed bug show up, ideally driving the pest away.
2. Plants can eavesdrop
Plants can eavesdrop on the chemical signals of their brethren, and sometimes respond to another plant’s SOS cry by ramping up their own defenses proactively, knowing that a hungry insect is nearby. A 2013 review found 48 studies support the idea that plants increase their defenses after their neighbors are damaged.
For instance, when wounded by a hornworm, sagebrush releases defensive proteins called trypsin proteinase inhibitors (TPIs), which prevent the insect from digesting protein and stunt its growth. When neighboring plants—even other species—are exposed to the chemical signals of damaged sagebrush, they begin readying their defenses.
Wild tobacco, scientists also found, begins prepping to make these TPIs when it senses a distress call from sagebrush, giving it a head start on defending itself if the caterpillar comes calling.
3. Plants can communicate with mammals
Plants go out of their way to attract more than just insects.
According to a new study in Current Biology, Nepenthes hemsleyan has a concave structure that is specially suited to reflect bat echolocation, helping the bats find the plant. The bats roost in the pitcher plant, and provide important nutrients by way of the bat guano that gets distributed in the soil nearby.
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