Plant Brains

[ysabetwordsmith]

I knew about the sensitive cell clusters on plant roots.  In fact, I just wrote a poem about them.  But it didn't occur to me that this is actually the plant's brain.  In essence, they have their brains in their fingertips.  Fascinating.  Perhaps they are touch-dominant, especially plants that emphasize their roots, such as carrots.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

As brains go, they're not very complicated... but as we've demonstrated with computers, when you network a whole lot of them together, even really crappy ones can be built into something powerful.

Now... think how many plants grow in just a square acre, with all those 'nodes' networked via the roots...

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Think how many roots a BIG plant has, like the prairie grasses and flowers with 12' deep roots. Think how many roots an aspen grove has, and those organisms can be thousands of years old.

Fascinating.

No wonder they think two-legs are weird, with our brains mostly in one place.

Re: Yes ...

[we_are_spc]

And so easy for them to kill for that. Trees/plants aren't that easily killed.

...

Although in dividing plants, it does explain why you have to water them and leave them to themselves for a time. Dividing a brain that way is hard on an organism. They are lucky they can to survive that. Some do not.

-Kaelaren~

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yeah, it's the root loss that kills plants when you move them, because so much of the root is fine little hairs. Root-pruning helps, where you dig around the plant but leave it in place, before coming back later to move it. The regeneration of roots will start closer to the core.

Re: Yes ...

[we_are_spc]

That is good to know.

But what of those where the proppegation is dividing the plant itself? Like many lillies, I believe. Those are the ones I think would take more of the shock. Though your other point is still a very valid one.

Trees, especially need to be done this way, (root trimming, etc, or so I hear tell.

~~Kaelaren~~

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Okay, plants have a lot of different shapes, but all of them have some sort of core that they grow from. Plants that can be divided are capable of having multiple cores. To divide them, you have to find the cores and separate them.

Frex, some daffodils form clumps. A single daffodil bulb is sort of teardrop shaped. New bulbs sprout from the base of the old bulb, and all of them become sort of flattened together. When the new ones are big enough, you can very gently break them apart and you'll have two or three separate bulbs. Each one has a little tuft of rootlets at the bottom and a shoot at the top.

Grass on the other hand grows in thick mats. It doesn't form bulbs. All the roots are kind of like fibers going up and down and sideways. So you just slice off a big chunk, scoop it up, and move it. Some grasses called bunch grasses do form crowns, so to divide them you feel for a sort of seam between the growth nodes. Often the middle part of a patch will die out, or it gets a line down the middle, so the clump can be divided.

Comfrey has thick, fleshy, fingerlike roots. All along them are nodules that can send out rootlets and leaf shoots. If you dig into a comfrey patch, a piece only an inch or two long can sprout!

Similarly, potatoes have "eyes" that are actually sprout buds. You can cut apart one potato into several chunks and let them dry. As long as there are at least 2-3 eyes on each piece, it should sprout. This is how seed potatoes are used in a garden.

It all depends on whether you have enough plant matter to grow, and one or more growth points for it to regenerate from.

If you are gentle with plants, you should be able to feel with your fingers how they grow and where the nodes are. Try it with seed potatoes in the spring, if you like, they're easy and some people have grown them in big buckets. In fall, ask for clumping or naturalizing daffodils and you should find some that multiply their bulbs. Some garden centers even have a question booth where you can ask gardening questions and someone will help you figure out what to do. They could show you what to feel for in dividing plants.