I brought a Hoya plant to my studio a month or so ago, and placed it on the edge of the table just under the window. The plant already had a new runner growing up, and somehow, within days, it found the cord that hangs down from the lamp clipped to the window. It was almost as if it had 'seen' it. How can a plant know there is something in proximity for it to twist around? Does it have some way to perceive its environment?
2 comments:
hello thea,
I saw this book at the library and thought of you - 'The botany of desire: a plant's eye view of the world' by Michael Pollan.
It's not quite as on topic as the title suggests - it's more about human/plant relationships and studies how particular species have been developed because of their use value - i think it was apple, tulip, potato and marijuana. Anyway, still interesting perhaps...
L x
Thanks, Lisa! The book sounds really great. I've just ordered it from our library.
I think it’s interesting, that even though plants obviously have no brain, they still seem to have some kind of sensing of the environment, maybe a chemical/biological kind of perceptiont. Like sunflowers which turn to face the sun and evening primrose flowers which open at sunset... would be nice to learn more about it.
Also, what you say about plants being developed because of their use value, reminds me of a wonderful film by Tacita Dean which I saw recently. She filmed the apple orchard of the poet Michael Hamburger, while he showed her all different varieties of apples he was harvesting, and talked about their particular histories and uses.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/feb/10/art.art
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