Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Science / Biology
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Do plants know? remember? or think?
Plants may not have brains but they have an electrical network that may be a decentralized form of memory.
The team goes on to explain that:Mimosa pudica is known as the Sensitive plant or a touch-me-not. Dr Monica Gagliano from the University of Western Australia and her colleagues designed their experiments as if Mimosa was indeed an animal.
They trained Mimosa‘s short- and long-term memories under both high and low-light environments by repeatedly dropping water on them using a custom-designed apparatus.
“Astonishingly, Mimosa can display the learned response even when left undisturbed in a more favorable environment for a month. This relatively long-lasting learned behavioral change as a result of previous experience matches the persistence of habituation effects observed in many animals,” the biologists wrote in a paper published online in the journal Oecologia.
“Plants may lack brains and neural tissues but they do possess a sophisticated calcium-based signally network in their cells similar to animals’ memory processes,” they explained.
So the next time you are out in your garden you may want to talk and visit with your plants, they may be able to remember you.
Source: Sci News
