Electric Bushes and Trees

Job 14:7, 9
“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. [Yet] through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.”

Is it silly to speak of plants anticipating a good watering or is it naive to think of a plant anticipating spring? Scientists are learning that although plants do not have a nervous system, they do use electrical signals to respond to their surroundings – and sometimes they respond just like human beings!

Most of us are familiar with the Venus flytrap, which responds very quickly when the trigger hairs are touched. Other plants are “sensitive” and close their leaflets when touched. One mimosa tree was so disturbed by its keeper that it shed all its leaves, seemingly, as one writer put it, having a nervous breakdown. Tomato plants will wilt to conserve water, but if they are overly disturbed, they will wilt even though they don’t need to conserve water.

Scientists have found that cells within plants communicate with each other through electrical signals in a similar way to our nervous systems. Such responses are very unexpected in what evolutionists consider simple plants.

However, if we see the creation as the work of a caring Creator Who endowed all of His creation with its own form of emotional sense, then even these limited plant responses are not unreasonable reflections of their Creator. The fact that we can recognize emotional response will hopefully enable us to see the importance of His love.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I thank You that You so loved the world that You gave Your only Son so that He might earn my salvation through the forgiveness of sins. In His Name. Amen.

Notes:  “Earthly sprites,” October, Science 82, pp.88&90. Photo: Persian Silk Tree foliage and flowers (commonly known as a mimosa tree in the United States). Courtesy of Kurt Stüber. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.