Biocommunication the paranormal idea that plants are sentient, that they respond to humans in a manner that amounts to ESP, and that they experience pain and fear. The idea is not accepted, as plants lack a nervous system.

Paranormal claims in regard to plant perception are considered to be pseudoscience by the scientific community.

The idea is distinct from measured plant perception and chemical communication.

The notion that plants are capable of feeling emotions was first recorded in 1848, when Gustav Fechner, a German experimental psychologist, suggested that plants are capable of emotions and that one could promote healthy growth with talk, attention, attitude, and affection.

Indian scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose, began to conduct experiments on plants in the year 1900. Bose invented various devices and instruments to measure electrical responses in plants.

He stated from his experiments that an electrical spasm occurs during the end of life for a plant.

According to biologist Patrick Geddes "In his investigations on response in general Bose had found that even ordinary plants and their different organs were sensitive— exhibiting, under mechanical or other stimuli, an electric response, indicative of excitation."

One visitor to his laboratory, the vegetarian playwright George Bernard Shaw, was intensely disturbed upon witnessing a demonstration in which a cabbage had "convulsions" as it boiled to death.

Source : wikipedia - encyclopedia
 
Zinnias are popular Summer and Autumn flowers plants.

The light given out by such strange natural lanterns is never brilliant, though it is sometimes bright enough to enable one to read a printed page in a darkened room.

Phosphorescence is, however, by no means confined to very lowly forms of plant life.

✨SPLASHES OF LIGHT.

Passing now to flowering plants, the first subject to he recorded as luminous was the ordinary garden nasturtium.

As far back as 1762, Christiana Linne, the daughter of the great Swedish naturalist, walking in her father's garden one sultry June evening, observed spiasnes of light being given off by some flowers of this kind.

Believing the experience to be unique, the girl reported the matter to Linnaeus, who, together with other scientists then in his company, himself witnessed a recurrence of the flashes on several successive evenings, as well as in the morning before sunrise.

The matter excited considerable interest at the time and gave rise to a good deal of speculation as to the nature of the light seen.

Since then a number of independent investigators have attested to having noticed flashes of light emanating from nasturtium blossoms, and from the leaves as well.

One writer, describing the examination of a luminous leaf of this plant under the microscope, says:

''The appearance of the luminous vapour floating over its surface, like moonlight over rippling water was strikingly beautiful.

The whole leaf seemed to twinkle with points of light, the main ribs, radiating from a common centre, shining out like a silver star.

The Scotch marigold or *calendula, the African marigold, sunflower, orange lily, and evening primrose are other subjects which enjoy the reputation of being similarly luminous under certain conditions of atmosphere.

The Scotch marigold an particular, sometimes shows the strange light-flashes very distinctly, as corrusentions of light, like mimic lightting' playing over the florets

All the flowers just mentioned as showing 'lightning effects' are characterised by a golden or yellow colour, and at one time it was thought that the phenomenon was confined to plants bearing blossoms of these shades.

More recently it has been observed in flowers of other hues, notably in the hairy poppy, oriental poppy, scarlet verbena, and zonal pelargonium.

The poet Goethe recorded having seen 'something like flame' about the flowers of the oriental poppy, but put it down to an optical illusion.

This explanation can hardly be regarded as satisfactory, since, in many cases, the flashes of light have been witnessed by several disinterested observers at the same time, and, as has been mentioned, in a variety of totally different plants.

Source : Newspapers: Sunday Mail -Brisbane dim. 25 déc. 1927 Page 17 LUMINOUS PLANTS
 
Is one plant you don’t want to tangle with literally. A briar on steroids, one plant can cover half an acre with treacherous slashers.

Unlike normal blackberries, each stalk measures up to 2 inches across, and is covered with inch long thorns that extend like sharks teeth.

While brambles might give you a scratch, an encounter with Himalayan Blackberries may warrant a visit to the emergency room.

Slashes from even casual stumbles into the innocent looking plants may result in serious eye injuries and blood loss from damaged veins and arteries.

Many accidents result when hikers trip in a gully infested with the hazardous spikes.

Extreme protective wear including shatter proof safety goggles are favored by hazard management crews.

Source : https://goo.gl/zS5v5l
 
The parasitic dodder plant sucks nutrients - and genes - from its victim.

Like an herbivorous Count Dracula, a snakelike vine coils around its leafy victim, punctures its stem and proceeds to suck out its life juices.

The parasitic plant Cuscuta pentagona, commonly known as strangleweed or dodder, preys on many common crop plants.

Not only does the parasite siphon water and nutrients from its host, but it also exchanges genetic messages with its victim,

Source : Vampire Plant Sucks Victim's Genes While Feeding
 
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This small bird native to the Galápagos Islands. It is a very distinct subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch Geospiza difficilis endemic to Wolf and Darwin Islands.

This bird is most famous for its unusual diet. The vampire finch occasionally feeds by drinking the blood of other birds, chiefly the Nazca and blue-footed boobies, pecking at their skin with their sharp beaks until blood is drawn.

Curiously, the boobies do not offer much resistance against this.

It has been theorized that this behavior evolved from the pecking behavior that the finch used to clean parasites from the plumage of the booby.

The vampire finch is endangered, being a small-island endemic.

The Galápagos finch species collectively form a showcase example of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.

The 15 species of Galápagos finches are often called "Darwin's finches."

Source : wikipedia the free encyclopedia
 
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Vampire ants, also known as Dracula ants, were only discovered fairly recently in Madagascar, and are some of the most horrifying things nature has produced.

They live in small colonies by ant standards around 10,000 individuals, often hidden in rotting wood.

They get their name from their gruesome feeding practice—workers and queens will bite holes in their colony’s own larvae, and feast on they hemolymph the insect version of blood.

This harvesting is done in a very controlled way; enough is taken to ensure the ants get their meal but the larvae are not killed.

Entomologist Brian Fischer, who discovered these ants, has spoken of seeing all the larvae in a colony covered with clearly visible scars where they had been cut open and drained.

Moisture ants get their name from their habit of nesting in high-moisture areas.

Some people call them yellow ants because the workers are yellowish in color.

There are several species in the United States.

One of the largest species is Lasius interjectus'Mayr, also known as the citronella ants.
Moisture ants are common from the Pacific Northwest to New England.

Their range extends southward to Florida and Mexico. Outdoors, they often nest under rocks or logs.

They sometimes nest above the ground in rotting logs. Moisture ants feed on honeydew.

The workers get honeydew from aphids and scale insects that feed on plant roots.

Moisture ants often tend aphids to collect the honeydew that they produce.

Some moisture ant colonies make their nests against the foundation of homes.

When colonies are under slabs, the ants often push soil up through cracks in the concrete while they are digging galleries underneath.

When this soil appears in basement floors, it can cause distress for the homeowners.

Many people mistake this soil for a sign of termite activity.

When moisture ants move indoors, they often nest in wood that is moisture damaged.

They frequently find damaged wood in areas like bath traps.

They sometimes nest inside walls where there is a plumbing leak.

There have been cases of these ants nesting in damp soil in crawlspaces. In these situations, the workers made mounds of excavated soil in the crawl space.

*Source : https://goo.gl/DS6rRW
 
A family in San Pedro, California experienced what they believed to be a particularly violent poltergeist.

Physical attacks, and even an attempted hanging, are just two of the more extreme phenomena they suffered back in the late 1980s.

The “mysterious red ooze” that seemed to drip down from their cupboards and other places. It was later reportedly confirmed to be human blood plasma.

*Source : strangerdimensions website link : Stranger Dimensions
 
SAN JOSE -California -Officials said yesterday the mysterious death of an apparently healthy young woman was similar to the "voodoo" or "dream" death that had stricken Mexican and Filipino field workers in recent years.

The victim, Anne Landerman, 26, went to bed on Tuesday night apparently in excellent health.

On Wednesday morning her sister-in-law, Mrs. John Linderman, found her rolling on the floor, shrieking In agony.

Her brother, .Mr. John Linderman, applied artificial respiration, but she died before an ambulance reached the scene.

Deputy Coroner, Mr.George Hannah, of Santa Clara County, said the dead womans symptoms reminded him in many ways of the "dream" deaths.

*Source : Newspapers: Browse The Canberra Times ACT : 1926 - 1995 sam. 14 juin 1958 Page 02 Dream Theory Follows Death Mystery
 
A strange discovery has been made in connection with the notorious 'Powder B' which is supposed to have caused disasters to the French battleships Jean and Liberte,

Since the Liberte disaster this powder has been kept under special observation, in order if possible to find out the nature of the changes which it undergoes, and 'which are supposed to cause its premature explosion.

-While examining some of the powder the French experts discovered to their intense astonishment that crawling about in the powder was a curious kind of worm.

This 'gunpowder worm' resembles the earth worm in some respects, but it has a white body and a red head.

The authorities are anxious to discover whether this worm has anything to do with the deterioraton of tlie powder and subsequently with the explosions..

At presnt the creature has not been classified.

When the sailors who had charge of the powder used for the experiment first' saw the worm they were speechless with incredulity '

One million pounds' worth of suspected naval powder has ocen thrown into the sea by the French Admiralty in the course of the past month.

When to this loss is added the two million sterling involved in the blowing up of the Liberte and the damage done to other ships, not to mention the sacrifice of 250 lives, it will he seen , how dearly France has paid, for 'her defective munitions.

*Source : Newspapers: The Maitland Weekly Mercury -NSW : 1894 - 1931 sam. 10 févr. 1912 Page 15 "GUNPOWDER WORM."
 
Our new member, @ForteanHearald143 is offering a great collection of stories. I'm merging them into one thread so they will be easy to find and review as he adds on.
 
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