Here is a news piece from The Guardian that can add some spice to our understanding of plant remedies. Since the time of Hahnemann, homeopaths have observed that various plant remedies seem to have a personality of their own (the 'mild' Pulsatilla or the 'hysterical' Lilium or the 'nervous' Ignatia). Now scientists have shown that plants are not as passive in real life as they were supposed to be. They have more sense and more ability to react to various circumstances in real life than was supposed earlier. May be the difference in the psychological profile of various homeopathic medicines results from the 'Individuality' of the 'totality' of the plant - not just its chemical componenets!

Tuesday April 13, 2004
The Guardian

The debate over whether plants have feelings is about to be reopened with the publication of research by scientists in Italy and Germany.
Their findings suggest that plants under threat communicate the danger to plants nearby; they also call in help from other creatures.

Biologists at the University of Turin and the Max Planck Institute in Jena were yesterday reported to have found evidence that plants sensed - and reacted to - the presence of hungry, leaf-chomping grubs. Their response was to emit an odour similar to that of lavender.

This alerted other plants to the presence of a predator. But it also served to call in what modern military planners would term air support. Wasps, the natural enemies of grubs, were drawn by the odour to the plant where they either devoured the grub or injected it with eggs that later killed it.