During a picnic trip, a couple from South Carolina, USA, was extremely alarmed to discover a peculiar plant swaying violently.
Jason Freeman and his wife were walking near their hotel when they encountered the unusual plant that was moving back and forth despite the absence of any wind.
Freeman recorded this strange phenomenon and stated: “Alright, this is really starting to freak me out. It’s not the wind. Look at it.”
The clip shows the man panning his mobile phone camera around to reveal that everything around them is completely still. Then, he turns the camera back to the tree that continues to sway from side to side.
“Oh my God, this is crazy. Look how fast it’s happening. Oh my God, that’s so strange,” Freeman remarked.
At one point, the man attempts to stop the tree from moving by holding it still with his hand for a moment. However, when Freeman lets go, the tree resumes its movement.
Freeman later uploaded the clip of the mysterious plant to YouTube.
Sharp-leaved plants can sway violently in light winds. (Image taken from the clip).
A study published in the American Journal of Botany in 2001 titled “The Oscillation Frequency of Sharp-leaved Plants” explained this phenomenon as follows: “For sharp-leaved plants, they can sway very vigorously in light winds that humans do not perceive. This leads us to mistakenly believe that these plants know how to ‘dance’“.
“The self-oscillating mechanism in erect-leaved plants, also known as sharp-leaved plants, can be explained by the balance in motion between the torques within an appropriate amplitude,” the study stated.
