Evolution

[Little Rik]

That's what losers do time and time again.
Instead of answering the question which of course they are unable to answer   they resort to the usual trick which is to pretend that the question was never asked and at the same time ask a question in return.

Little bit of hypocrisy on your part there, Rik. Jus' sayin'.

Plus your article is hardly conclusive. It says so right in the article itself. You are jumping to conclusions.

For some researchers, evidence of these complex communication systems -- emitting noises via gas when in distress -- signals that plants feel pain. Others argue that there cannot be pain without a brain to register the feeling. Still more scientists surmise that plants can exhibit intelligent behavior without possessing a brain or conscious awareness [source: Pollan].

Those who say that ............there cannot be pain without a brain to register the feeling........got it wrong.
If plants wouldn't feel pain why then they emit sign of distress.
They have no brain yet they register the pain somewhere.
Where then other than in the consciousness considering that there is no brain?
Obviously the consciousness is there even in plants.

Any kind of behavior need to be registered somewhere otherwise there wouldn't be a repetition of the same behavior under the same circumstances.
There would be some different reaction every time the same thing happen but it doesn't that is why there is consciousness that make plants react in the same way under the same circumstances.