Intelligence without a Brain: The Intriguing Story
of the Discovery of Plant Intelligence
Plants might have intelligence, here’s why.
A book was published in 2017, written by Stefano
Mancuso, who leads the International Laboratory of
Plant Neurobiology at the University of Florence. The
book is called The Revolutionary Genius of Plants: A New
Understanding of Plant Intelligence and Behavior.
In the book, Mancuso tells us about him remaking an
experiment that René Desfontaines, a French botanist,
commanded a student to carry out. According to the
experiment plan, the student was going to observe the
behavior of Mimosa pudica while riding on a carriage and
touring around Paris. Here is the issue: Mimosa pudica is
a plant which responds quickly to a single touch, closing
its beautifully colored purple leaves. How would this
defensive plant deal with the disturbing vibrations of
the carriage? That was the question Desfontaines had
in mind.
The results were shocking. First, the Mimosa pudica
plant closed its leaves. However, eventually it became
“used to” the vibrations, and despite its striking self-
defense mechanism, it opened its leaves.
“Would it be possible to come up with a remake of
this classic experiment, recasting it in such a way as to
make it scientifically plausible?” says Mancuso in his
book. He creates an up-to-date remake of this signature
experiment. He places the plants in jars, and he drops
the plants from about a 4 inch (10.16 cm) height. Then
he reiterates the experiment. The results are similar to
the results of Desfontaines’ experiment: after repeating
the experiment for about seven or eight times, the plants
get accustomed to the situation; realizing that it has no
danger, they leave their leaves open.
Prepare to get more “shocked”. This action, in other
words, “memory”, of the plants lasted for forty days.
The plants not only distinguished what is dangerous and
what is not for them but also remembered them. These
results could mean only one thing: Mimosa pudica,
which is only a “brainless, unintelligent plant” as what we
would have defined, had the ability to learn information
and keeping the learned information in their memory for
forty days.
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THE CLAPPER 2018 - 2019
Although it is still unclear how
this super intelligent plant
has no brain but has a wide
memory and the ability of
learning, we know something
for a fact. Epigenetics might
have something to do with
the establishment of such a
memory. Epigenetics is, as
the Collins Dictionary defines
it, the study of heritable
changes that occur without a
change in the DNA sequence.
This example is not the only example of the theory that
plants might have “intelligence” after all. As Mancuso
mentions, another example of plant memory is how
they remember the time that they must bloom. In a
nutshell, the organisms that we believe can never reach
our level of intelligence might be as intelligent as we are,
and maybe even more. Including this captivating theory,
out there, there are a lot of mysteries of our Earth, and
we have yet to discover.
Bibliography
Definition of Epigenetics. (n.d.). Retrieved from Collins
Dictionary:
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/
dictionary/english/epigenetics
Ehrenberg, R. (2018, September 18). Smart plants can
teach us a thing or two. Retrieved from ScienceNews:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/smart-plants-
can-teach-us-thing-or-two
Mancuso, S. (2017). The Revolutionary Genius of
Plants: A New Understanding of Plant Intelligence
and Behavior. Simon & Schuster Audio and Blackstone
Audio.
Caption for image: Mimosa pudica (Photo taken
by: Uthpala Shyamendra Retrieved from: https://
unsplash.com/photos/RoRoAQTSnEU)
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