Do Plants Have a Mind of Their Own?
By Kate Chun ’29
When prompted about memory, one usually thinks about the brain processes of intelligent beings. Memories that form in the hippocampus of our brain—something attributed only to the animal kingdom. But the concept of holding memories extends all the way to plants as well.
In the botanical world, plants gather information using chemical and physical systems. Trees communicate using their roots, tomato plants warn neighbors about pests, and vines slither around any surface they touch. [1] They deeply perceive events around them and react to stimuli in ways that suggest adaptation, anticipation, and memory.
Have you ever heard someone drone on and on about the same thing until eventually you just tune them out? Well… that’s one thing you now have in common with plants. Plants partake in a behavior called habituation, which is when an organism stops reacting to stimuli after repeated exposure. This has been best shown in the Mimosa pudica, a plant that folds its leaves after being touched. Muhammed Tuhin writes that, “When this stimulus is repeated over and over, the plant begins to ignore it, ceasing to fold its leaves in response. This ability to tune out irrelevant stimuli is a basic form of learning that is often seen in animals with nervous systems—but now we see it in plants as well.” [2]
This brings a newfound view on the intelligence of plants and even raises the question, “Could they be remembering their past experiences?” The answer to this is “kind of.” Although plants show signs of learning, they aren’t necessarily sentient, and they can’t remember memories the way that we do. Instead, they simply store information, but can do so in an extraordinary amount. Plants can “remember” information for over 28 days! (honestly longer than some of us) [3]
This experiment also brings forth the idea that if plants can remember information, they may one day be trainable. By training plants or selectively breeding them to act a certain way, the future of agriculture would be revolutionized. For example, a farmer could breed/train their plants to be more water-efficient, reducing risk in case of drought.
What we can learn from this is that plants are more complex and intelligent than we give them credit for. Some think that humans are the only intelligent and sentient species, when in reality, plants also prove to be so. Next time you see some vegetation, try not to just see them as objects, but instead appreciate them as living beings.
Footnotes
Tuhin, “How Plants Communicate: The Hidden Network Below Our Feet.”
Tuhin,“How Some Plants Remember and Learn Without a Brain.”
Graham, “Greenhouse Experiments Show Plant’s Long-Term Memory.”
References
Tuhin, Muhammad. “How Some Plants Remember and Learn Without a Brain.” Science News Today, July 8, 2025. https://www.sciencenewstoday.org/how-some-plants-remember-and-learn-without-a-brain.
Graham, Rebecca. “Greenhouse Experiments Show Plant’s Long-Term Memory.” Phys.org, March 17, 2014. https://phys.org/news/2014-03-greenhouse-long-term-memory.html.
Tuhin, Muhammad. “How Plants Communicate: The Hidden Network Below Our Feet.” Science News Today, July 13, 2025. https://www.sciencenewstoday.org/how-plants-communicate-the-hidden-network-below-our-feet.