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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/science/10plant.html
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/6241377640t332n7/?p=026d9c9a04aa495f95d5a7489464c5cf&pi=1
If the sea rocket detects unrelated plants growing in the ground with it, the plant aggressively sprouts nutrient-grabbing roots. But if it detects family, it politely restrains itself.
Some plants, for example, have been shown to sense potentially competing neighboring plants by subtle changes in light.
But even the scientists studying the plant were surprised at the speed and precision with which a dodder seedling could sense and hunt its victim. In time-lapse movies, scientists saw dodder sprouts moving in a circular fashion, in what they discovered was a sampling of the airborne chemicals released by nearby plants, a bit like a dog sniffing the air around a dinner buffet.
Then, using just the hint of the smells and without having touched another plant, the dodder grew toward its preferred victim. That is, the dodder reliably sensed and attacked the species of plant, from among the choices nearby, on which it would grow best.
“When you see the movies, you very much have this impression of it being like behavior, animal behavior,”
“Plants do send electrical signals from one part of the plant to another,”
Although those signals have been known for 100 years, scientists have no idea what plants do with them.
Other cases of plants not being "plantlike": the sensitive plant, of course stuff like the Venus fly-trap, more recent stuff about plants sending chemical signals, when browsed, that summon predators of the browser, or notify nearby plants to start making chemical defenses before they're browsed.
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/6241377640t332n7/?p=026d9c9a04aa495f95d5a7489464c5cf&pi=1
If the sea rocket detects unrelated plants growing in the ground with it, the plant aggressively sprouts nutrient-grabbing roots. But if it detects family, it politely restrains itself.
Some plants, for example, have been shown to sense potentially competing neighboring plants by subtle changes in light.
But even the scientists studying the plant were surprised at the speed and precision with which a dodder seedling could sense and hunt its victim. In time-lapse movies, scientists saw dodder sprouts moving in a circular fashion, in what they discovered was a sampling of the airborne chemicals released by nearby plants, a bit like a dog sniffing the air around a dinner buffet.
Then, using just the hint of the smells and without having touched another plant, the dodder grew toward its preferred victim. That is, the dodder reliably sensed and attacked the species of plant, from among the choices nearby, on which it would grow best.
“When you see the movies, you very much have this impression of it being like behavior, animal behavior,”
“Plants do send electrical signals from one part of the plant to another,”
Although those signals have been known for 100 years, scientists have no idea what plants do with them.
Other cases of plants not being "plantlike": the sensitive plant, of course stuff like the Venus fly-trap, more recent stuff about plants sending chemical signals, when browsed, that summon predators of the browser, or notify nearby plants to start making chemical defenses before they're browsed.