“They Have a Lot to Say:” Enchantment and Ethics in Plant-Human Communication

What are we to make of accounts of paranormal communication between human beings and plants? In this essay, I read firsthand accounts of such communications, which are common, even in cultural contexts that have no traditional framework to explain or account for them. The content of these accounts is diverse but consistent: most often, these experiences (re)establish plants as subjects of moral status and human ethical concern. “Unverifiable” as they may be, accounts of paranormal communication with plants suggest a radical contiguity between "enchantment"—to borrow Weber’s term—and ethics.