Wonder what this Japanese Maple has to say?
Did you know that plants can communicate? No, we’re not crazy! Plants can actually talk to one another, but in a language that we can’t understand. Although, some scientists have been trying to understand it, and they’ve begun to catch on.
It’s been observed that some trees, like willow trees, poplars and sugar maples, can warn one another of insect attacks. How friendly of them, right? If a tree is dealing with a sudden infestation of hungry bugs, it will secrete a repellant type chemical to get rid of the problem. Apparently, when a tree does this, a neighboring tree will “get a whiff” of the chemical, and begin to protect itself against a potential attack.
Seems totally legit, right? But, sadly, there are still skeptics that aren’t so sure about the recent studies surrounding plant communication. One huge question they ask is: why would a plant purposefully warn its competition of an attack? Wouldn’t it be better for the plant to protect itself, get rid of the bugs, and send them to the neighboring plant? Not so friendly, but definitely more effective for its own well-being. This question has been mulled over, and some scientists believe that the chemical release isn’t meant as a warning at all. These trees probably aren’t just helping their competition out of the goodness of their hearts, but it’s more of an accidental blessing situation.
We should take this as a lesson learned: plants are much more intelligent than we give them credit for. To learn more about plant communication, and the various studies that have been conducted, check out this article.