Plant agency: from senome and electrome to plant semiosphere

Abstract

Historically constrained by mechanistic and cerebrocentric paradigms, plant life is increasingly recognized as a complex expression of biological agency. Building upon this paradigm shift, this article presents a theoretical synthesis integrating Cellular Cognitive Biology, Biosemiotics, and Phenomenology. We explore how the transition from a reactive to an agentic view of plants is grounded in autopoietic organization and enactive sense-making. At the elementary level, this agency is sustained by the cellular senome—a multimodal, analog interface allowing the cell to evaluate its environment in real-time—and the electrome. By synthesizing these perspectives, we describe how bioelectric and mechanical perturbations cross a semiotic threshold, transforming into meaningful signs through semantic couplings. This framework elucidates how plant agency scales from individual cells to the whole organism, operating as a decentralized modular system. Eventually, this sentience is projected into the surroundings via extended cognition, driving active niche construction and the creation of a plant semiosphere. Ultimately, the biophysical infrastructure of the N-space episenome enables the emergence of the holobiont. At this scale, communication links individual senomes into a distributed hypersenome, giving rise to a relational agency that facilitates shared decision-making and collective survival. Beyond the scientific and evolutionary implications, we argue that acknowledging this shared agency demands a reconciliation between ontology and ethics. Recognizing that plants affirm their existence as an intrinsic “good” establishes a foundation for a new environmental ethics, emphasizing our moral responsibility toward the ecosystems that sustain life and advocating for the legal recognition of nature.