Normally we think of trees and flowers as the strong silent type, but that may just be because we don’t speak their language. Willow trees, for example, can warn each other about predators. When one is attacked by a wood-eating insect, it not only produces a chemical to make itself unpalatable to the bug, but it also puts out a pheromone that prompts surrounding willows to produce the same defensive chemical. Tobacco plants are the plant equivalent of being multi-lingual, and can actually respond to such distress calls put out from other plant species. But plant communication is not just limited to self-defense. They work together to time when their flowers will bloom, how to share soil nutrients and more. However, there is no word from science yet on the plant equivalent of “LOL.”
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