7.7 One Big Family

Flowers function like advertising billboards: plants invest energy into them to attract pollinators. But sometimes the benefits extend to neighbouring plants — especially if they are closely related.

A 2018 study on Moricandia moricandioides showed that floral investment increases when plants growing together are genetically closely related.

So — do plants help their relatives more?

Is this similar to behaviours seen in humans and other animals?

Is this extraordinary behaviour evidence of intelligence — or an automatic biochemical mechanism?