Plant Neurobiology
Plant Neurobiology
Posted by Trygve Harris on 6th Jun 2023
Plant Neurobiology
If you love essential oils, you might have given some thought to the plants themselves, how they live; why this or that plant might prefer one terroir over another, seemingly identical one; how is intercropping perceived; why do some plants make volatiles; how do plants communicate with each other, and the like. I’ve always considered it one of the cornerstones of our sourcing, in the limited way I understood it. We prefer to buy from small distillers, conscious harvesting practices, most comfortable and happiest terroir, organic, sustainable wild, or at least no chemicals, no monocropping, etc.
You know that, probably
Here is an article I stumbled on this morning, in the Guardian, (which everyone can access as there is no pay wall) and this article interviews Italian botanist Stefano Mancuso, who has spent his life researching the neurobiology and even the consciousness of plants; or one can say the intelligence of plants.
To quote the Guardian, Stefano Mancuso seeks to understand “how plants perceive their circumstances and respond to environmental input in an integrated fashion” He has written several books on this subject—he is a pioneer of the plant neurobiology movement.
Are essential oils and other volatiles a method of communication? If animals (meaning us too of course) have various intelligence in our organs, then how to understand plants, which can diffuse the electrical signals found in neurons, throughout their entire bodies? What can we learn from how plants cooperate to keep each other alive? Being rooted in the ground, they must communicate with each other, and how do they do it? Can essential oils be part of one of these “extremely sophisticated forms of communication?” Apparently plants socialize, memorize and problem solve.
He continues, saying that not only do plants have a consciousness, but one can even anesthetize them, using the same drugs that anesthetize us. What can this mean?
And what are the implications for vegans? (It’s good news of course.)
Should this article not be available by the time you follow the link, his name is Stefano Mancuso and he’s from Florence, Italy. He’s easily findable online.
