Research suggests plants might be capable of more than we suspect. Some scientists - controversially - describe plants as "intelligent".
They argue a better understanding of their capabilities could help us solve some of the world's thorniest problems.
Four experts talk to the BBC World Service Inquiry programme about what plants can teach us.
Stefano Mancuso: Plant intelligence is real
Professor Stefano Mancuso leads the International Laboratory for Plant Neurobiology at the University of Florence.
"We are convinced that plants are cognitive and intelligent, so we use techniques and methods normally used to study cognitive animals.
"The main problem with plants is they move much more slowly than animals so we need to record plant movement for many days.
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Image caption Neighbouring bean plants compete for resources
"We did an experiment with two climbing bean plants. If you put a single support between them, they compete for it.
"What is interesting is the behaviour of the loser: it immediately sensed the other plant had reached the pole and started to find an alternative. This was astonishing and it demonstrates the plants were aware of their physical environment and the behaviour of the other plant. In animals we call this consciousness.
"We don't have a clear idea of how plants are able to sense the behaviour of other plants.
"Plants are much more sensitive than animals. Every root apex can detect 20 different physical and chemical parameters - light, gravity, magnetic field, pathogens and so on.
"Plants distribute all along the body the functions that in animals are concentrated in single organs. Whereas in animals almost the only cells producing electrical signals are in the brain, the plant is a kind of distributed brain in which almost every cell is able to produce them.
"Underestimating plants can be very dangerous, because our life depends on plants and our actions are destroying their environments."
Suzanne Simard: The 'wood wide web' connects trees
Suzanne Simard is professor of forest ecology in the department of forest and conservation sciences at the University of British Columbia.
"Every tree is linked to every other tree underground - the "wood wide web". Through these pathways they talk to each other and then behave in certain ways.
"In our old-growth Douglas fir forests, we have trees that are 300 years old and six feet in diameter. Those are the hubs of the network because they're so massive and have roots that grow out in all directions.
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Image caption Experiments showed that Douglas fir trees could identify trees grown from their seedlings
"Fungi and trees form this association where the tree provides the fungus with photosynthate, which the fungus cannot acquire below ground.
"We grew Douglas fir in a neighbourhood of strangers and its own kin and found that they can recognise their own kin and we also grew Douglas fir and ponderosa pine together.
"We injured the Douglas fir by pulling its needles off, and by attacking it with western spruce bud worm, and it then sent a lot of carbon in its network into the neighbouring ponderosa pine.
"My interpretation was the Douglas fir knew it was dying and wanted to pass its legacy of carbon on to its neighbour, because that would be beneficial for the associated fungi and the community.
"There are so many ways we can use this knowledge. We've treated plants as inanimate objects that are there for our use and pleasure.
"But we haven't treated them with respect that they are sentient beings. If we can shift our thinking, and change our behaviour, that will then be beneficial for the plants and our forests." -
BBC News
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Topic: Do we underestimate the power of plants and trees? (Read 3405 times)