Reframing Botanical Blindness and Imperception Through Evolutionary Lenses

Abstract In this opinion article, we question the tendency to treat human interactions with plants as a cognitive deficit through terms such as botanical blindness, botanical imperception, or plant awareness disparity (PAD). Rather than denying the existence of the phenomenon these terms attempt to describe, we argue that it should be interpreted as part of a broader and naturally evolved process of differential attention. We contend that naming this perceptual tendency as a distinct and pathological entity disregards the evolutionary basis of human cognition and perception. Cultural and contextual factors modulate interaction with plants, and less attention is paid to them in modern environments, reflecting sociocultural influences rather than cognitive flaws. We advocate for educational approaches that embrace human perceptual plasticity, promoting reconnection with plant diversity without invoking notions of dysfunction.