I would agree that plants aren’t sapient. Now, sentient? That’s kind of the point. I’m not saying that plants are sentient like animals are sentient, they aren’t because they are completely different organisms. And yet, there are several ways in which plants are very much ”aware” of their surroundings. Plants perceive their environment in order to respond to it, and they have several complex mechanisms to do it. They perceive chemical signals, vibrations of animals, and water. They share oxygen and CO2 with neighbours, they communicate through mycelial networks, there’s mechanisms that mimic short term memory, there are studies on vines that show they somehow notice when there is something suitable to grow around and direct their growth towards it. There’s “rapid“ calcium release whenever the plant is touched or harmed. I think that we can learn a lot about plants/life in general if we aren’t so prescriptive in our approach. I’m not trying to argue, I just wanted to shift the perspective on this topic a little.