Do climbing plants know where they’re going?
CrowdScience
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Plants Sensing Support Sticks
A plant may actually be sensing its support stick before we see it reach out to grab it. That may sound like telepathy, but one possible mechanism is via the subterranean parts of the plant. Sylvia believes that roots play a key role and with the research team designed a simple experiment to test this. She grew pea plants near support sticks and at a certain point lifted those sticks up away from the roots. The results are just the plants able to perceive before passion, the support. So Eric's wisteria may not only be able to sense that there's a tree nearby, but also the width of its trunk.
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