Consciousness in Nature
Smart Plants
To show how smart plants can be we will look at the dodder
plant, which is a parasitic plant. It has no leaves of its own so it completely relies on its host plant. If it takes too much from its host it will kill the host and die. So when it comes to a new host it grows coils around the new plant. The coils then analyze the host for its nutrient strength.
If the host is strong enough it grows more, but if the host is weak it moves on to a new host. Research has shown that with in an hour it can decide to stay with a host or move on. If it decides to stay it is days before it gets any benefit from the host. This foraging strategy is not that different from animals, who have passed the mirror test. Plants just operate at a speed that is not perceived by us.
If we look at plants alone, without a mirror test, it does not prove consciousness, but by looking at all of the evidence throughout all of nature, where they show the same behavior, it is quite reasonable to assume that there is some form of consciousness.