Not from that article they couldn't. Even the researchers themselves have to couch their statements at the end -- making sure people don't confuse plant intelligence with animal intelligence and being explicit about there being no reason to think plants feel pain.
It's clear that plants have some fascinating sensory and reactive behaviors, and this can be loosely defined as a brand of intelligence -- but this is in no way analogous to the intelligence and consciousness produced by a developed brain. Even the most basic of cells are capable of unconscious function.
While deeply interesting as a matter of botany and biology, you simply cannot claim there's any reason to believe they are more intelligent than cows. They are two totally incomparable types of intelligence, and any moral imperative to a cow cannot be applied to a plant.
English
-
In all honesty, I just posted that to get the word out that plants could function a lot different than what we are led on to believe. I respect your life choices.
-
Fair enough.