Plants are just very slow animals

Abstract

Most of us regard plants as quite different from animals, and many of us think of them as furniture. But plants actually share a very large number of biological functions with the animal kingdom, including mechanisms for sensing and responding to enemies (e.g., immune responses), cellular and molecular organization, and even behaviors. Moreover, because they must interact with animals in diverse and intimate ways, plants possess many characteristics uniquely suited for influencing animals, including humans. These include the chemical bases for all of traditional and much of modern medicine. I will illustrate similarities between plants and animals, and convergences that make plants useful for research and development in comparative medicine.