User:Rickstru/Plant memory

Plant memory is the ability of a plant to retain information from experienced stimuli and respond, whether instantaneously or at a later time. For example, some plants have been shown to time their leaves to rise synchronously with the sunrise or to produce new leaves in the spring after overwintering. Many experiments have been conducted into plants' capacity for memory, including sensory, short-term, and long-term. The most basic learning and memory functions in animals have been observed in some plant species, and it has been proposed that the development of these basic memory mechanisms may have developed in an early organismal ancestor.

Some plant species appear to have developed conserved ways to use functioning memory, and some species may have developed unique ways to use memory function depending on their environment and life history.

The use of the term plant memory still sparks controversy. Some researchers believe the function of memory only applies to organisms with a brain. Some researchers believe that comparing plant functions resembling memory to humans and other higher division organisms may be too direct of a comparison. Others argue that the function of the two are essentially the same and this comparison can serve as the basis for further understanding into how memory in plants work. In order to better define the parallels and differences of these functions in both plants and animals, further research is necessary.