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by thomasfoster96 3239 days ago
> They also can "scream" by giving off a pulse (that humans can't hear) when attacked...

Do you have a source for the ‘scream’ phenomenon?

I am aware of (and was myself misled by) several pop-science books which confusingly tried to compare plants giving off chemicals when attacked with animals screaming. The result was that a skim read would have given one the impression that plants could make sounds inaudible to humans, which was not what was meant.

2 comments

Trees who suffer from drought apparently give off ultrasound when their dried cells are destroyed, but it seems to attract pests who then finish off the tree: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Pop+chirp+bite+crunch+chew%3a...
But that's the sound of the tree decaying/dying, not communicating as the GP seemed to imply.
Sorry, no. It was in a textbook from a college class some years ago. I no longer have the textbook and can't tell you more than that.