Skip to main content
Log in

Plants are intelligent; now what?

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Plants

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Like all living organisms, without exception, plants integrate many external signals to adapt to their environment and increase their fitness. Is this a proof of intelligence? It depends on the meaning of the word; and it really does not matter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. Chamovitz, D. What a Plant Knows (Scientific American, New York, NY, 2012).

  2. Tompkins, P. & Bird, C. The Secret Life of Plants (Harper & Row, New York, NY 1973).

  3. Galston, A. W. Natural History 83, 18–24 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Yokawa, K. et al. Ann. Bot. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcx155 (2017).

  5. Klein, J. Sedate a plant, and it seems to lose consciousness. Is it conscious? The New York Times D2 (2 February 2018).

  6. Thanos, C. A. in Plant-animal interactions in Mediterranean-type ecosystems, Vol 31 (eds Arianoutsou-Faraggitaki, M. & Groves, R. H.) 3–11 (Springer, Netherlands, 1994).

  7. Misra, A. Indian J. Hist. Sci. 9, 178–184 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Lindsay, W. L. Br. J. Psychiatry 21, 513–532 (1876).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Darwin, C. R. The Power of Movements in Plants (John Murray, London, 1880).

  10. Calvo, P., Sahi, V. P. & Trewavas, A. Plant Cell Environ. 40, 2858–2869 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Baluska, F., Mancuso, S., Volkmann, D. & Barlow, P. W. Plant Signal Behav. 4, 1121–1127 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Gardner, H. E. Intelligence Reframed (Basic Books, New York, NY, 1999).

  13. Greenspan, S., Switzky, H. N. & Woods, G. W. J. Intellect. Dev. Disabil. 36, 242–253 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Sternberg, R. J. The Triarchic Mind: A New Theory of Human Intelligence (Viking, New York, NY, 1988).

  15. Binet, A., Simon, T. & Town, C. H. A method of measuring the development of the intelligence of young children (Courier, Lincoln, IL, 1912).

  16. Gardner, H. Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences (Basic Books, New York, NY, 2011).

  17. Anderson, B. Novartis Found Symp. 233, 79–90 (2000).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Nakagaki, T., Yamada, H. & Tóth, A. Nature 407, 470 (2000).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Ben Jacob, E., Becker, I., Shapira, Y. & Levine, H. Trends Microbiol. 12, 366–372 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Slijepcevic, P. BioSystems 163, 23–35 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Trewavas, A. Ann. Bot. 92, 1–20 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Trewavas, A. Interface Focus 7, 20160098 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank Shaul Yalovsky, Vaidurya Sahi and Shira Yalon-Chamovitz for critical reading and comments of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel A. Chamovitz.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chamovitz, D.A. Plants are intelligent; now what?. Nature Plants 4, 622–623 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-018-0237-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-018-0237-3

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Navigation