Phytosemiotics is a branch of biosemiotics that studies the sign processes in plants, or more broadly, the vegetative semiosis.[1] Vegetative semiosis is a type of sign processing that occurs at the cellular and tissue level,[1] whose functions include cellular recognition, plant perception, intercellular communication,[1] and plant signal transduction.[2]
The addition of phytosemiotics into the broader scale of semiotic research remains a controversial one, as determining the extent to which plants actually exhibit sign processing remains a debate, as the range of what signs are able to be processed by plants remains fairly limited compared to the semiotic capabilities of humans or animals.[2] If fully recognized, phytosemiotics could expand semiotic research beyond a focus on human or animal semiotics into the other kingdoms of life, including fungi and bacteria.[1] It could also change how we view the components that make up effective sign processing and how non-human/animal life is capable of more advanced sign processing.[2]