Plant perception (paranormal)

Cleve Backster in 1969, a notable proponent of paranormal plant perception

Plant perception or biocommunication is the paranormal idea that plants are sentient, that they feel pain, that they respond to humans in a manner that amounts to ESP, and that they experience a range of emotions or parapsychological states. Since plants lack nervous systems,[1][2][3][4] paranormal claims regarding plant perception are considered pseudoscience by the scientific community.[1][2][5][6]

Such paranormal claims are distinct from the ability of plants to sense and respond to the environment via chemical and related stimuli.

  1. ^ a b Galston, Arthur W; Slayman, Clifford L. Plant Sensitivity and Sensation. In George Ogden Abell, Barry Singer. (1981). Science and the Paranormal: Probing the Existence of the Supernatural. Junction Books. pp. 40-55. ISBN 0-86245-037-3
  2. ^ a b "Plant perception (a.k.a. the Backster effect) - The Skeptic's Dictionary". Skepdic.com. Retrieved 2012-03-21.
  3. ^ Tittle, Peg. (2011). Critical Thinking: An Appeal to Reason. Routledge. p. 317. ISBN 0-203-84161-1
  4. ^ Jong, Tom de; Klinkhamer, Peter. (2005). Evolutionary Ecology of Plant Reproductive Strategies. Cambridge University Press. p. 2. ISBN 0-521-82142-8 "Plants do not have a nervous system and certainly do not make conscious decisions about what to do next."
  5. ^ Audus, Leslie. (1974). Roots of Absurdity. New Scientist. 17 October. p. 207
  6. ^ Galston, Arthur W; Slayman, Clifford L. (1979). The Not-So-Secret Life of Plants: In Which the Historical and Experimental Myths About Emotional Communication Between Animal and Vegetable Are Put to Rest. American Scientist 67 (3): 337-344.