It strikes me that the word 'feelings' is getting a bit mixed up here.
That plants react to stimuli (in other words can 'sense') is not in
dispute. They are highly reactive organisms and even without a
recognisable central nervous system, can organise themselves to react
quite rapidly according to whether they are under stress or otherwise.

It has long fascinated me that the moment a herd of giraffes arrive to
feed on one species of Acacia in the South African veldt, the entire
neighbourhood of Acacias starts to mobilise huge and toxic quantities
of tannins to both bark and shoots. After feeding for a short time,
the animals have to move on to another species. I look upon this as
an electrical stimulus given out and received by plants under attack.
I suspect it is quite common and may even be transmitted through
ground moisture.

I carried out as bit of an experiment with the 'sensitive plant' -
Mimosa pudica quite a few years ago. Seedlings were either potted up
or planted out, 8" apart in deep trays. The potted plants were also
kept 8" apart. If the leaves on a potted plant were hit or damaged,
the entire plant would collapse as would be expected, but there was
never a reaction in its neighbours.

Those in the trays reacted differently on several occasions. Mild
hitting of the leaf would result in the collapse of foliage on that
plant only. However, cutting a leaf off or severely damaging it
often (but not always) caused other plants in that tray to react as
well - even though great care was taken not to touch or shake them in
any way.

Not a truly scientific experiment for it wasn't carried out on a large
enough scale or over a long enough period. That said, it was an
interesting exercise and my conclusions were that the plants responded
electrically and that a fluctuation in electrical discharge was
transmitted through the soil moisture, which was picked up by its
neighbours, causing them to react as well.

Back to feelings, I have great difficulty in according plants with
the ability to feel in an emotional way (love, hate etc.) for this
requires quite complex thought processing. Emotion is a consequence
of the need to remain together (as a pairing) or within one's own peer
group for self protection and the successful rearing of young. Its
roots are in baser instincts of the survival of the species and I have
great problems in accepting that such sensations are present in any
other than life forms with a highly organised central nervous systems.

Don't you think we are getting a tad too phyllanthropomorphic ;-)


Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November