Rethinking What Plants Can Do

Written by botanist Stefano Mancuso, founder of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology at the University of Florence, together with science writer Alessandra Viola, this book makes the case that plants are far more capable than most of us assume. Drawing on years of research into plant behaviour, it argues that intelligence should be understood as the ability to solve problems, and that by this measure plants qualify as intelligent beings.

The authors take readers through how plants sense their surroundings, communicate, adapt and even appear to hold a kind of memory, all without a brain or central nervous system, relying instead on abilities spread throughout their structure.

A thought-provoking read for anyone curious about botany, plant science or the natural world, and a good match for readers who enjoy popular science that looks at intelligence beyond the animal kingdom.

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