Intelligent plants

Hi all, we offer a class monthly here in Youngstown, Ohio featuring three new herbs each month.  This month is collectively titled Breathe and we will be discussing Mullein, Lobelia and Spikenard.  Mullein and Lobelia both have what multiple herbalists would call intelligence.  Lobelia seems to know where to go and what to do, and it acts as an excellent driver.  We have two blends (one for allergies and one for pain) and we chose Lobelia to be part of each for it's particular property of being an anti-spasmodic and bronchial relaxant plus it bosses the other herbs in the blend around and tells them where to go.  :)  Mullein seems to have intelligence in setting bones, particularly those that are difficult to set...unlike Comfrey that sets it where it lies.  I would add Yarrow to a list of intelligent plants too.  What are your experiences with plant intelligence?

I am not very enthusiast at calling this "plant intelligence", but body intelligence, in using what we offer it, and chemical agency. Could it be called an "intelligent relationship"?

I call plant intelligence their way to grow and relate to the soil where they live, and to relate with their own species or with other species, as this is a feature of any living being form of intelligence.

Then surely there is some better adequacy between us and some animals and some plants too, better than with others. But if you say "intelligent plants" it bypasses the fact that it is a relationship between us and the body, and that our body is also intelligent (I mean somatically and not only our mind)

Cris Fellows wrote:Hi all, we offer a class monthly here in Youngstown, Ohio featuring three new herbs each month.  This month is collectively titled Breathe and we will be discussing Mullein, Lobelia and Spikenard.  Mullein and Lobelia both have what multiple herbalists would call intelligence.  Lobelia seems to know where to go and what to do, and it acts as an excellent driver.  We have two blends (one for allergies and one for pain) and we chose Lobelia to be part of each for it's particular property of being an anti-spasmodic and bronchial relaxant plus it bosses the other herbs in the blend around and tells them where to go.  :)  Mullein seems to have intelligence in setting bones, particularly those that are difficult to set...unlike Comfrey that sets it where it lies.  I would add Yarrow to a list of intelligent plants too.  What are your experiences with plant intelligence?

By "know where to go," do you mean that it "knows" where it's needed in the body, or that it physically knows where to drop seed or run its runners? Because if you're referring to the medicine's effect in the body, I don't think I can agree with the terminology, but for reasons other than Xisca's.

Intelligence is the domain of the living, whether plant, animal, fungus, or whatever. It's logical to assume that, as for instance cut heliotrophic flowers will still reorient towards a light source, that cut plant matter could retain its life until the cells themselves die enough to render it vegetative (pun intended). But once a thing is no longer alive, in my opinion, it's inert from the perspective of having its own agency.

-CK

I think he meant where in the body, due to the examples

Chris Kott wrote:

Cris Fellows wrote:Lobelia seems to know where to go and what to do.  
we chose Lobelia to be part of each for it's particular property of being an anti-spasmodic and bronchial relaxant plus it bosses the other herbs in the blend around and tells them where to go.  :)  
Mullein seems to have intelligence in setting bones, particularly those that are difficult to set...unlike Comfrey that sets it where it lies.

By "know where to go," do you mean that it "knows" where it's needed in the body,


Intelligence is the domain of the living, whether plant, animal, fungus, or whatever. It's logical to assume that, as for instance cut heliotrophic flowers will still reorient towards a light source, that cut plant matter could retain its life until the cells themselves die enough to render it vegetative (pun intended). But once a thing is no longer alive, in my opinion, it's inert from the perspective of having its own agency.

-CK

Chris, your reasons are like mine, because I said that our body is the intellligent one that uses the plants.
I also said a chemical adequacy was needed, of course because the plant is dead.

But I did not go as far as calling dead and inert a "dead" plant, because of the chemistry. It is still active, and this might be what native people meant about "spirit" and working with plants, even after boiling them!