Furthering on Nostr: I enjoyed The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger, about developments in plant intelligence ...
I enjoyed The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger, about developments in plant intelligence and behavior.
The book presents plants as both sophisticated and mysterious, revealing amazing adaptive qualities (for example, the boquila can mimic the plant closest to it by morphing its leaves, color, and other characteristics) as well as what scientists are very deftly trying not to call consciousness.
They also exist in a kind of harmony or even playfulness with their environment and other entities (plants, animals) -- this harmony presents itself in opposition to the theory that every living thing is in competition with each other for survival, a theory that feels very Western.
"They don’t stick to their own species, or even to some clearly definable gender. After all, the orchid is reproducing through sex with a wasp. Some plants almost exclusively clone themselves, like aspens or dandelions, and still others clone themselves sometimes and have sex other times, like the strawberry. Many plants are bisexual, with male and female genitalia occurring together on the same flower (in plant anatomy these are called, intriguingly, “perfect” flowers). The ancient ginkgo tree can spontaneously switch the sex of a section of its body, producing a female branch on an otherwise male tree. Ginkgo are one of the oldest lineages of trees we live alongside, having persisted for hundreds of millions of years, stubbornly surviving since the time of the dinosaurs. Their sexual fluidity may make them remarkably resilient to whatever the eons have thrown at them. "
#Plants #Book #Nature #Science #Botany #Species #Flowers #Evolution #Adaptation #Environment #Research
The book presents plants as both sophisticated and mysterious, revealing amazing adaptive qualities (for example, the boquila can mimic the plant closest to it by morphing its leaves, color, and other characteristics) as well as what scientists are very deftly trying not to call consciousness.
They also exist in a kind of harmony or even playfulness with their environment and other entities (plants, animals) -- this harmony presents itself in opposition to the theory that every living thing is in competition with each other for survival, a theory that feels very Western.
"They don’t stick to their own species, or even to some clearly definable gender. After all, the orchid is reproducing through sex with a wasp. Some plants almost exclusively clone themselves, like aspens or dandelions, and still others clone themselves sometimes and have sex other times, like the strawberry. Many plants are bisexual, with male and female genitalia occurring together on the same flower (in plant anatomy these are called, intriguingly, “perfect” flowers). The ancient ginkgo tree can spontaneously switch the sex of a section of its body, producing a female branch on an otherwise male tree. Ginkgo are one of the oldest lineages of trees we live alongside, having persisted for hundreds of millions of years, stubbornly surviving since the time of the dinosaurs. Their sexual fluidity may make them remarkably resilient to whatever the eons have thrown at them. "
#Plants #Book #Nature #Science #Botany #Species #Flowers #Evolution #Adaptation #Environment #Research