Plants can recognize rivals and fight, study says

[Inward Visionary]

Link

Plants can't see or hear, but they can recognize their siblings, and now researchers have found out how: They use chemical signals secreted from their roots, according to a new study.

Back in 2007, Canadian researchers discovered that a common seashore plant, called a sea rocket, can recognize its siblings — plants grown from seeds from the same plant, or mother. They saw that when siblings are grown next to each other in the soil, they "play nice" and don't send out more roots to compete with one another.

But as soon as one of the plants is thrown in with strangers, it begins competing with them by rapidly growing more roots to take up the water and mineral nutrients in the soil.

[Wood Nymph]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing that.

I love reading about the abilities of plants to respond to each other and even to communicate with each other. It seems as if science is only beginning to scratch the surface of the deeper lives of plants.

[Convallaria]

Excellent news! I love the fact that plants are far more complex than previously thought!

[Know Your Rights]

*nods* Yes, I was taught this back in 2006. It's not just seashore plants, many plants are competitive, especially those with a runner type of root system. They can send roots out under the ground and along it, eventually sending up another shoot and choking out less dominant plants.

[Meadhbh]

Nifty. It would make sense that plants had some way of doing that.

[Astara Seague]

really interesting

[Jesyka_Silverwolf]

I always thought plants were less docile than people thought...