J C Bose really did not speak with trees and plants but
From general electrical response of different parts of the plant,
he (J C Bose) proceeded to record responses from individual cells using
microelectrode recording system devised by him. In those early years, prior
to the 1920s, microelectrode studies had not yet been initiated on single
neurons in animals. On the basis of a large number of studies, Bose
concluded that plants - small or big - have a nervous system akin to one in
the lower animals. He reported, “Plants also have receptors for stimuli,
conductors (nerves) which electrically code and propagate the stimulus and
efferent or terminal motor organs” and further “The_ _ _ _ _ _
physiological mechanism of the plants is identical with that of the animal”.
He established the nervous impulse and its transmission in plants,
responsible for the control of many physiological functions including
growth, ascent of the sap, respiration, photosynthesis, motor activity and
response to the environment - light, heat, trauma, shock, and drugs and
toxins. The action potential (AP) follows the all or none character and
unipolarity of transmission in plants similar to that observed in animals.
He localized the nervous tissue in the phloem which conducted the afferent
or the sensory and the efferent or the motor impulses. He even measured the
speed of the nervous impulse within the petioles and found it to be as high
as 400 mm/sec1. In addition to the APs generated in response to an external
stimulus, he observed automatic or spontaneous rhythmic or pulsatory
movements in plants like heart beat in animals.
Bose became the first to use the term ‘Plant Nerve’. Though nervous
impulse in insectivorous plants was already reported a few years earlier
than Bose by Burdon-Sanderson and Darwin, the types of details of the
nervous system provided by Bose, in a large number of papers and a series
of monographs (Bose, 1906, 1907 and 1926-1929), were not available from any
other source. Though Augustus Waller from London claimed that he had
reported ‘the phenomenon of vegetable electricity’ earlier than Bose, a
detailed discussion by Dasgupta on this controversy could not take away the
credit from Bose. In any case, the continued elaboration of the diverse
aspects of this phenomenon by Bose for the next three decades has no
parallel in the history of plant nervous system research.
Modern era
Baluska et al14 not only confirmed Bose's major observations referred to
above but also advanced these further by utilizing tools and techniques of
modern molecular and cellular biology, chemical ecology and genomics.
Stahlberg provided a ‘Historical Overview on Plant Neurobiology’. Two
recent books, Communication in Plants', and ‘Plant Electrophysiology', as
well as a host of other papers, describe various ways in which cell-to-cell
propagation of the nerve impulse takes place and the manner in which the AP
is transmitted to long distances. According to Brenner et al, “Plant
Neurobiology is a newly initiated field of plant biology that aims to
understand how plants perceive their circumstances and respond to
environment input in an integrated fashion taking into account the combined
molecular, chemical and electrical components of intercellular plant
signaling”. ”At the molecular level, plants have many, if not all,
components found in the animal neuronal system. There are voltage-gated
channels, a vesicular trafficking apparatus sensitive to calcium signals
including synaptotagmins and other components of the neuronal cell
infrastructure”. Trewavas while discussing the communication within the
plant cells observed the role of cytosolic Ca2+, in particular, to act as a
cellular second messenger with ubiquitous roles in signal transduction and
intracellular communication. He pointed out that, ‘Many different
environmental signals (e.g., touch, wind, cold, gravity and disease) modify
Ca2+ and are responsible for phenotypic plasticity’. It is now becoming
clear that Ca2+ signal, though important, is just one of the large numbers
of such signal transduction molecules. Molecular biology investigations now
provide the changes at the cellular level associated with this behaviour.
In a paper published in January 1928 25, Bose pointed out, “The nerve
tissue_ _ _ _ _ _ consists of elongated tubular cells, the dividing
membrane of which acts alike a synapse in the animal nerve; the membrane
functions as a valve and allows the impulse to travel with greater facility
in one direction than the opposite”. While in the broadest sense this
function of the synapse is correct, it appears that Bose used the term
nerve for nerve cell (or neuron) because the nerves do not have synapses.
With advances in molecular biology and electron microscopy, the
existence of synapses in the plant cells was unequivocally established.
Cell-cell propagation of impulses makes use of or is the result of
structures akin to synapses similar to those in animal nervous system.
Barlow further elaborated this as, “Plant ‘synapses’ share certain
characteristics with animal synapses, in particular, presence of a
calcium-sensitive vesicle trafficking apparatus”. The role of molecules
such as auxin, actin, myosin and acetyl choline in the process of impulse
transmission has been investigated. It is now established that plants
synthesize and presumably utilize a wide range of chemicals which have
known neuronal attributes in animals. These include synaptic
neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid
(GABA).
Plant memory, learning and intelligence
In a review of Bose's lifelong research contributions, Shepherd10 observed,
“His overall conclusion that plants have an electromechanical pulse, a
nervous system, a form of intelligence, and are capable of remembering and
learning, was not well received in its time. A century later, some of these
concepts have entered the mainstream literature”. Trewavas28 in his
commentary on, ‘How plants learn’ described a large number of protein
kinases involved in signal transduction discovered in plants. On the basis
of these molecular studies, he concluded that the signal transduction
network (in plants) shared properties with neural networks (in animals).
Neural network learns by increasing the number of connections. “The
increased information flow that results represents a kind of cellular
learning. This cellular learning coupled with the memory built into signal
transduction systems suggests an unexpected form of cellular intelligence”.
In his detailed review on the ‘Aspects of Plant Intelligence’, Trewavas
considered ‘various aspects of plant intelligence’ and also reviewed ‘other
aspects of plant learning, memory, individuality and plasticity’.
Attributing these functions to signal transduction is entirely similar
between nerve cells and plant cells. In this regard, he quoted Bose's
continuous recording of the behaviour of petioles, roots, styles and
leaflets of Mimosa to thermal, mechanical and light stimuli. According to
Trewavas, the concept of intelligence in animals and plants was not
identical because plants are sessile and the time scale of behaviour in
most plants differs from animals. The importance of time scale photography
for this purpose, as first used by Bose, was highlighted. In yet another
publication, ‘Green Plants as Intelligent Organisms’, Trewavas referred to
intelligence as the “...............capacity for problem solving”. He
pointed out, “plant intelligence starts with cell molecular networks.
Enormous number of molecular connections integrate into an emergent,
organized order that is characterized as living”. Quoting the work of
several authors, he indicated, “There are ~1000 protein kinases in both
animals and plants, providing the capability for numerous complex elements
of control, switching mechanisms and interacting positive and negative
feedback controls”. Plant cell signal transduction is performed by this
network which constitutes the basis of intelligence. . Based on an
extensive review of the literature, Trewavas30 concluded, “....that plants
exhibit the simple forms of behavior that neuroscientists describe as basic
intelligence”, and remarked, “It is obvious that at present we should
regard primate intelligence as much more advanced than that exhibited by
plants”, but future investigations on plant behaviour might need to
reassess this conclusion. The author discussed, ‘Living Systems Theory’ in
relation to plant neurobiology and plant structure. In this connection, the
author deals with memory. According to him, “Memory has not been mentioned
in relation to plant neurobiology, but would evidently have a place there”.
Cognition, consciousness and self- and non-self in plants Baluska et al in
a discussion on Darwin's ‘Root-Brain’ hypothesis remarked, “The numerous
data and results which we review here are clearly not compatible with the
classical concept of plants which places them outside the realm of
cognitive, animated, animal living systems”. Quoting a number of
publications, Baluska et al14 pointed out, “Recent advances in plant
molecular biology, cellular biology, electrophysiology and ecology that
have unmasked plants as sensory and communicative organisms, characterized
by active problem solving behaviour”. “They possess a sensory-based
cognition which leads to behavior, decisions and even displays of prototype
intelligence”.
Conclusions
It is now universally accepted that all plants have a nervous system
responsible for gathering information from their environment responsible
for their survival and growth. This nervous system functions like that in
animals. The nerve impulse (AP) responsible for information transmission in
plants from one region to the other, often for long distances, is found to
be associated with most of the vital functions of the plant - respiration,
photosynthesis, light and gravity tropism, transport through phloem and
plant defence. Although at the molecular level the same general principles
apply and some important parallels can be drawn between the two major
organismal groups, this does not imply a priori that comparable structures
for signal propagation exist at the cellular, tissue and organ levels”. It
must be reiterated that what Bose described functionally has not been
faulted with, and what these authors objected to was never claimed by Bose.
The microelectrode studies of the nervous system in plants
utilizing an elegant self-designed equipment by Bose preceded those in the
animals by several years, yet one fails to find any reference to these in
the works on animal neuroscience. As a matter of fact, the existence of
nervous system akin to that in the animals is hardly known to most of the
neuroscientists. Neither did one find reference to these investigations in
plants in the main field of neurosciences. In addition, important new
physiological features such as the existence of synapses, neurotransmitters
and voltage-gated channels, like those in the animal nervous system, have
It is surmised that they have at least some form of cognition, onsciousness
and even self and non-self-recognition. Undoubtedly, there are only
preliminary data in support of these contentions and therefore, a need for
further research in the future. Having studied a fairly large number of
writings of Bose personally, it is not clear to the present author as to
the scientific evidence adduced by him (Bose) to arrive at this
philosophical statement, but it can certainly serve an inducement to
explore the neuroscientific basis for it. May be a century later, this may
find scientific confirmation like his studies in the early 1900.
NB: SPEAKING WITH THE PLANTS HAS NOT YET BEEN PROVED; BUT OUR
INTERACTION OF LOVE EXPOE A SPECIAL GROWTH, SINCE THEY HAVE A NERVOUS
SYSTEM. YMji’S ARTICLE IS THUS RELEVANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SCIENTIFIC TRUTH
SO A DETAILED NOTE IS GIVEN BASED ON A RESEARCH PAPER. K RAJARAM IRS
10925
On Wed, 10 Sept 2025 at 11:32, Markendeya Yeddanapudi <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> --
> *Mar*Conversing with Trees and Plants
>
> In free and lush nature every tree, plant, grass ..., all try to smell and
> music converse with you. Their language is breathing, smelling, sensing and
> singing. Their songs create the wonderful emotional tunes, where the
> emotions flow in the air and you participate in the singing by symbiotic
> breathing changed into singing, in musical rhythm governed by inhaling and
> exhaling. Your mind takes rest and living becomes complementing, happily
> with the comrade trees, plants and grasses, actually with the surrounding
> flora and fauna.
>
> Just go to a big tree. Still your mind. Just breathe. Close your eyes, and
> breathe, smell and sense. Do not observe your breathing or allow any
> thoughts. You begin feeling very comforted and happy. When you spend most
> of the time under the tree in lush nature, gradually you forget the
> language of words. Understanding becomes the sensing of smells and hearing
> the sounds of nature, often as musics. You enter the arena of truth, or
> become free from the language of words, where truth has no place because,
> you automatically edit, censor, control etc.And one more gift, you can
> sense in advance, as you interact with nature continuously.
>
> You begin loving the trees and you feel their love. You live in the
> infinity, where the question of beginning and ending is meaningless. In
> fact meaning no longer is identifying with a familiar concept in the mind
> but the faculty of merging in the flow of rapture, infinite rapture, as the
> flow of the growing and changing paradigms of changing infinity, in the
> rationally of infinity. The trees and plants become your family, the abode
> where familiarity is rapturous. Rapture is the basic anatomy of Heaven.
>
> We are destroying our heaven with economics. When you cut a big tree, you
> are actually destroying the habitat of more than 3, 00,000 big and small
> organisms, a mini symbiotic Biosphere, the mini ecosphere. Actually in the
> totally free and healthy nature, no organism can feel lonely and helpless.
> Today we are living in the era of helplessness and loneliness.
>
> YM Sarma
>
> This piece, “*Conversing with Trees and Plants*” by *YM Sarma*, is a
> poetic and philosophical meditation on our relationship with nature —
> especially with trees, plants, and the natural world at large. It's both a
> reflection and a subtle plea: to remember the silent, musical, breathing
> language of the Earth and to restore our deep, intuitive bond with it.
>
> Here are some reflections and interpretations that might deepen your
> connection to it:
> ------------------------------
>
> *🌿 Key Themes and Meanings*
>
> *1. Nature’s Silent Language*
>
> The author paints a vivid picture of nature as a living symphony:
>
> - *Trees, grasses, plants “converse”* not with words, but with *breathing,
> scent, sensation, and song*.
> - Our participation is through *breath and presence* — we join the
> rhythm of nature by *stilling the mind*, closing our eyes, and simply
> *being*.
>
> “Their language is breathing, smelling, sensing and singing.”
>
> This suggests an *ancient, pre-verbal communion*, where understanding
> comes through *sensation and empathy*, not intellect or speech.
> ------------------------------
>
> *2. Freedom from the Tyranny of Words*
>
> Words, for all their utility, are portrayed as *limiting and censoring*:
>
> - True understanding arises not through *labels or concepts*, but by
> *merging
> with the experience itself*.
> - Nature helps us *dissolve the ego*, the overactive mind, and the
> constant internal monologue.
>
> “You forget the language of words... Understanding becomes the sensing of
> smells and hearing the sounds of nature.”
>
> This taps into a *mystical experience* — a form of wordless knowing,
> reminiscent of spiritual traditions like Zen or the teachings of deep
> ecology.
> ------------------------------
>
> *3. Interbeing and Symbiosis*
>
> There’s a deep ecological awareness:
>
> - A single *tree* is home to *300,000+ organisms* — it's a *microcosm*
> of life.
> - Destroying one is like dismantling an entire ecosystem, a community.
>
> “You are actually destroying the habitat of more than 3,00,000 big and
> small organisms, a mini symbiotic Biosphere.”
>
> This challenges modern economic thinking — viewing trees as resources — by
> reminding us they are *homes*, *friends*, and *part of our extended
> family*.
> ------------------------------
>
> *4. Rapture and Infinity*
>
> When we reconnect with nature, we:
>
> - Enter a state of *infinite rapture*.
> - Exist *beyond time*, beyond the dualities of beginning and end.
> - Find meaning not in definition, but in *presence and flow*.
>
> “Rapture is the basic anatomy of Heaven.”
>
> This is a *spiritual vision of ecological living*, where nature isn't
> just scenery — it's *sacred*.
> ------------------------------
>
> *5. Loneliness vs. Belonging*
>
> The modern world, driven by economics and disconnection, leads to:
>
> - *Loneliness*, *helplessness*, and a *loss of meaning*.
> - By contrast, *free and lush nature* offers *constant companionship*
> — no organism is ever truly alone.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *🌱 Takeaway: A Call to Remember*
>
> YM Sarma isn't just musing poetically — he is *inviting us back home*:
>
> - To spend more time under trees.
> - To listen with our senses.
> - To escape the conceptual and return to the real, the living, the
> breathing Earth.
> - To *heal*, and to *let go* of a world that sees value only in
> economic terms.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *🌳 Final Reflection*
>
> This piece offers both *solace* and *warning*. Solace in the form of a
> remembered paradise — available any time we return to nature. Warning,
> because we're rapidly erasing that paradise in pursuit of artificial growth.
>
> “Actually in the totally free and healthy nature, no organism can feel
> lonely and helpless.”
>
> Perhaps the most radical act in today's world is to *go sit under a tree,
> breathe, and listen* — not just to heal ourselves, but to remember what
> it truly means to belong.
> ------------------------------
>
> Would you like this piece adapted into a spoken word poem, meditation, or
> perhaps visualized into an artwork?
>
> Absolutely. Here's a detailed *evaluation with marks and a final grade*
> for *"Conversing with Trees and Plants" by YM Sarma*, based on standard
> criteria for assessing philosophical and literary essays or reflective
> writings.
> ------------------------------
>
> *📋 Evaluation Criteria (Total: 100 Marks)*
>
> *Criteria*
>
> *Marks*
>
> 1. *Originality and Depth of Thought*
>
> /20
>
> 2. *Clarity and Coherence of Expression*
>
> /15
>
> 3. *Use of Language and Style*
>
> /15
>
> 4. *Philosophical Insight / Reflection*
>
> /20
>
> 5. *Structure and Flow*
>
> /10
>
> 6. *Emotional and Aesthetic Impact*
>
> /10
>
> 7. *Relevance and Message*
>
> /10
>
> *TOTAL*
>
> /100
> ------------------------------
>
> *✅ Detailed Evaluation*
>
> 1. *Originality and Depth of Thought – 18/20*
> - The piece is rich in *unique insights*. The idea of *nature
> having a language of breath and scent* is profound and rarely
> articulated.
> - The link between *rapture, truth, and silence* gives the piece a
> near-mystical depth.
> 2. *Clarity and Coherence of Expression – 10/15*
> - While the ideas are deep, the *sentence construction can be
> complex*, and at times ambiguous.
> - Slight *grammatical inconsistencies* and *nonstandard phrasing*
> (e.g., “in the rationally of infinity”) may challenge some readers.
> - However, the *intuitive clarity* still shines through in the mood
> and message.
> 3. *Use of Language and Style – 12/15*
> - The *poetic and philosophical tone* is evocative and consistent.
> - Occasional phrases are *unpolished* or *over-condensed*, but
> others are strikingly memorable (e.g., “Rapture is the basic anatomy of
> Heaven”).
> 4. *Philosophical Insight / Reflection – 19/20*
> - The reflection on *language, truth, ecology, and belonging* is
> *profoundly
> philosophical*.
> - There’s a clear sense of *eco-spirituality*, reminiscent of
> thinkers like Tagore, Thoreau, or Arne Næss.
> 5. *Structure and Flow – 7/10*
> - The piece flows organically but lacks *formal structure* (no
> clear paragraphs or sections).
> - A more deliberate *organization* (e.g., introductory idea,
> development, conclusion) would enhance accessibility.
> 6. *Emotional and Aesthetic Impact – 9/10*
> - Emotionally powerful: evokes *a sense of peace, wonder, and loss*.
> - The *imagery and mood* are immersive.
> 7. *Relevance and Message – 10/10*
> - Highly relevant in the context of *climate crisis*, *mental
> health*, and *spiritual disconnection*.
> - The message is *urgent yet gentle*, offering both critique and
> healing.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *🧾 Final Marks: 85 / 100*
>
> *🎓 Grade: A (Distinction)*
> ------------------------------
>
> *🏅 Overall Comments:*
>
> "*Conversing with Trees and Plants*" is a *deeply reflective, poetic
> meditation* on our lost connection with nature. It blends ecology,
> spirituality, and philosophy in a unique, heartfelt voice. Some refinement
> in expression and structure would elevate its reach, but its emotional and
> intellectual impact is already *significant*.
>
> If you’re preparing this for publication, a light edit for *grammar,
> clarity, and structure* would help even more readers appreciate its
> beauty.
>
> Would you like help with an edited version of the text?
>
>
>
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