Roses rigged with electrical circuitry

Garden-variety roses just got an electrical upgrade.

Playing off the thirst of plant vascular systems, a team of Swedish researchers cut garden roses (Rosa floribunda) and set them in water containing specially designed organic molecules that can conduct and process electricity. The molecules linked up to form “wires” in the xylem, which pumps water and nutrients up from plant roots. When zapped with a charge, the wires conducted electricity without damaging the plant, the researchers write November 20 in Science Advances. Similar bioelectrical molecules induced roses leaves to light up and change color.

This isn’t the first time researchers have injected plants with electrical materials, but it is the first time they’ve used the plants’ own vascular system to form a circuit. The technology could provide a means of manipulating plant biology for scientific research, to harvest energy or as an alternative to genetic engineering.