It has been known for some time that plants communicate with one another, but Israeli scientists now say they’ve identified “words,” and have found that different species speak in different “languages,” according to a groundbreaking new study published Thursday in the prestigious scientific journal Cell.
Scientists already know that plants communicate in a variety of ways when they are stressed. They might change physically (by wilting or changing leaf color), become bitter to the taste (to deter herbivores), or emit smells (volatile organic compounds) to tell other members of the family that they are under attack, for example by insects.
Image: Tomatoes were among the plants tested for sound by Tel Aviv University researchers. (David Besa, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)