Vegetation Comsec

[John Young]

Proceeding with novel comsec investigations, the New Yorker
this week has an article on plant communication and intelligence
and how they differ from those of animals.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/23/131223fa_fact_pollan

Plant signaling with chemical emissions was intriguing, as were
signals sent through proxies such as insects.

Plant perception of hazards, sensing sources of water, light,
air, nutrients, kin, enemies is suggestive for veggie comsec.

And all this is based on being tethered to the ground, immobile
thus having to do what animals do by different means, barely
perceptible to animals, slow moving, but effective in competing
with other plants as well as animals.

Darwin wrote the seminal work, but current scientists are
deeply involved in what some call "neurobiology" in which
brain-like activites are accomplished by vegetable swarms
of signals and networks without animal brains. Albeit root
stems searching for water and nutrients appear to behave
like brains below ground, while veggie sex occurs above
ground.

This raises the prospect of using plant capabilities in
emissions of chemicals and finding nutrients in signaling,
SIGINT, comsec, infosec and crypto.

Has anyone seen reports on this? Or on chemical transceiving
for comsec? Public key as a plant with unique biological
identity which absorbs or emits decrypt signal? The use of insect
and chemical proxies?

An amusing account is that of a CIA polygrapher claiming
to exchage signals with plants, discovered by hooking up
a polygraph to them. He said he could just think of burning
a nearby plant for the plant to initiate defenses. His claims were
later discounted but remind of the long-running mind control
research by US and Russia. And the unkillable kudzu of
lie detectors.