We’ve talked before about how trees can communicate with each other. They can also store memories and respond to attacks on themselves and other trees. Overall, trees have a profoundly positive effect on our emotions, making up happier and healthier. However, is it possible to know how they feel about us?
For a moment, let’s compare trees to elephants. You may be wondering how this is a fair comparison. Well, elephants, like trees, live in social groups and care for not only their young but also their elders. Trees also have the famous elephant memory. Both groups, although very different, communicate in ways that we don’t understand – or at least, we didn’t at one time. We’ve learned that trees communicate through their interconnected root systems. Elephants, on the other hand, communicate using low-frequency rumbling below the range at which we can hear. We also get a rough yet pleasant feeling when we rub the outer skin of both entities and we enjoy the reaction we get from them.
When we discuss communication between humans and trees, we must figure out exactly what we mean by ‘communication.’ We know that trees can’t talk, but we subconsciously ‘eavesdrop’ on the scents trees use to communicate with each other. For example, we have a physical reaction when we breathe them in. However, for true communication to occur, trees must have a reaction to us.
It’s true that trees transpire chemical compounds. We are aware, at least in our subconscious, of these compounds and they affect our blood pressure. The tree, however, is unaware of our response. Why? Well, for one thing, we are not in contact with the tree in any way. Even if we were to hug the tree and talk of electric fields – one way which we could actually ‘communicate’ with each other – there is one huge obstacle and that is time. Trees, as you may or may not know, are awfully slow. You can multiply the time it takes you to make contact with a tree by 10,000 to find out when you can expect a response.
By that time, you’ll be long dead. Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t ‘communicate’ with trees. Remember – trees store memories, respond to attacks, transfer a sugar solution to each other and share their memories, or at least we believe they do, with their offspring. All of these abilities make a strong case for trees having a brain. However, no one has yet found irrefutable proof that this is the case.
Professor František Baluška from the University of Bonn (Germany) has recently been taking a look at this. He has been of the opinion that plants are intelligent. After all, they can process information and make decisions, but consciousness takes the discussion to a different level. Professor Baluška and his colleagues sedated plants that feature moving parts such as Venus flytraps. The anesthetics the scientists used deactivated electric activity so that the traps no longer reacted when they were touched. Sedated peas, for example, showed similar changes in behavior. Their tendrils, which usually move in all directions, stopped searching and started to spiral on the spot. After the plants broke the narcotics down, they resumed their normal behavior.
Did the plants actually ‘wake up’ as humans do when we come to the after a general anesthetic? This question becomes critical because when you wake up you need to have consciousness. Unfortunately, as Professor Baluška noted, “plants can’t answer this because you cannot ask them.”
So, when you hug a tree, nothing electric happens, because your voltages are the same. Might the tree be aware of your touch in some other way? All you have to do is to stroke your tomato plants for a few minutes each day and they slow their upward growth and put their energy into growing thicker stems instead. This isn’t the plant responding to your touch, however. It is probably reacting to what it likely experiences as a breeze blowing by. The wind elicits a similar response in plants. So, if you’re hoping to hug a tree and have it hug you back, that’s not likely to happen.
The roots of a tree have a completely different type of sensitivity. At this level, the tree works its way through the ground with its root tips. These contain brain-like structures. The root tips feel, taste, test and decide where and how far the roots will travel. If there is a stone in the way, the sensitive tips notice and choose a different route. The sensitivity in touch that tree lovers are seeking is therefore to be found not in the trunk but in the underground. If it’s possible to make contact, the roots would be the first place to try. They don’t like pressure or fresh air, however.
We hope you found this information on trees and how they ‘communicate’ interesting. If so, we’d love to hear from you on our Twitter page. We enjoy bringing tree news to you and look forward to our next blog. Thank you, as always, for tuning in.
