The Possible Intelligence of Plants

1914

SENSES OF PLANTS.

A Theory That Flowers See and Hear and May Even Talk.

Jean Viand-Bruant, who is one of the most famous French horticulturists, has just published a little book on flowers, in which he advances the theory (I believe it is not entirely novel) that flowers both see and hear. As a young man, he says, he began to study flowers, for which he has always had a passion, and he sought to understand the habits of the blooms which he cultivated. When he saw the growing plant reach out toward the necessary support he asked himself whether the action was the result of volition and whether the plant had eyes.

M. Viand-Bruaut is now apparently convinced that flowers both hear and see. There are some that are sensitive to anaesthetic substances, ether in particular, which suggests the existence of a nervous system, like that of a nervous woman. And he would even credit them with something analogous to the power of speech.

"One knows," he writes, "that the perfume of flowers is a manifestation of vegetable life, a living radiation. Perfume is as much a vibration as an olfactory sensation. The perfume is the voice of the flower. A bouquet is a wordless romance. Each perfume or, rather, each odorous sensation corresponds with a certain rate of vibration. There is an analogy between the perceptions of sound, light and scent. The strong scent corresponds with the deep notes, while the delicate odors correspond with the shrill notes." — Paris Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer.