Plantwatch: how come plants can be anaesthetised?

Though plants do not have nerves, their response to ether could shed light on how anaesthetics work

Plants can be anaesthetised. When the sensitive Mimosa pudica is touched its leaves fold up, and in 1878 the French physiologist Claude Bernard anaesthetised the plant using ether, preventing the leaf movements. Since then other plant movements have been anaesthetised - but how these drugs work has been a mystery.

Though plants do not have nerves, they can send rapid electrical signals remarkably similar to nerve impulses. Touching a trigger hair on a Venus flytrap fires off an electrical signal that tells the trap to snap shut.

A recent study anaesthetised flytraps with ether, blocking the electrical signal and trap movement. Although the flytraps were paralysed, the trigger hairs of adult plants remained touch-sensitive.