The flowers are listening – so we'd better start talking sense

Frequently, the stories that will make you feel better are tucked away. So it is with the plants and the bees. Flowers can hear. This is great, if surprising news. They respond to the buzzing of nearby bees and produce more sugar in their nectar – by volume and concentration – making them more useful to the bees, and to the world. 

This remarkable news came through last week at the Acoustical Society of America and the International Congress on Acoustics’ joint meeting. It was held in New Orleans, which feels like the optimum place to have a conference on sound.

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The research, since you ask, centred on snapdragon flowers and snail-shell bees. It was carried out by scientists at the University of Turin. As a minor aside, when I think of Turin I think of Juventus and their classic black and white strip (though by the time you read this, I hope the righteous and raucous Napoli have secured the Scudetto), and of Primo Levi. One of the writers of the 20th century, he remains potentially the greatest chronicler of the Holocaust, from a survivor’s perspective. It is the 50th anniversary this year of The Periodic Table, Levi’s collection of short stories and memories anchored around elements of the table, and their characteristics. It merits our attention.

Back to the bees. Professor Francesca Barbero, who led the research, went a little further at the conference with the potential good news from the sweet-treating flowers. They might be making sound themselves too. 

“There is growing evidence that both insects and plants can sense and produce, or transmit, vibroacoustic signals,” she said, casually, as if we’ve all always just been ready to accept that flowers are singing. “Plants could improve their reproductive success if their responses drive modifications in pollinator behaviour.” So, you might ask, what? What’s the benefit of knowing about this, about the vibroacoustic signals – aside from wanting that to be a track title in a new Brian Eno project? 

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Well, clearly it’s good for bees and good for flowers that need a bit of pollination. And as Big Issue ambassador Chris Packham wrote for us this week, as climate change impacts, last year was the worst ever for bumblebees in the UK. Bees, we’ve all come to learn, are essential for plant successes and also as signals of habitat health. Any leg-up is a positive one. All hands to the pumps.

While climate change is proving a hazard for some species, it’s a boon for West Nile virus-hosting mosquitoes. These critters and their dangerous disease have been detected in recent times in some parts of southern Britain. Coming over here… STOP THE BUGS!

There is a wider positive though. If the snapdragons respond in a natural way to stimulants mimicking natural influences without any damaging chemicals, then other plants might too. And in a time when there is focus on maximising output, but not destroying the earth, this is a welcome wrinkle.

“If this response from insects is confirmed,” said Barbero, “sounds could be used to treat economically relevant plants and crops and increase their pollinators’ attraction.”

Isn’t this a fantastic image? Acres of crops getting juiced up as big speakers gently hum with insect pollination thrumming. 

Now, we want to hear the sound of excited plants. Over to you professor Barbero.

Paul McNamee is editor of the Big Issue. Read more of his columns here. Follow him on X.

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