The awakening spell is, by all accounts, a marvel of magic. By definition magic breaks the normal natural laws and exceeds them. An understanding of "awaken" shows just how true this is. The spell, when cast on an animal, endows it with human intelligence. It does this not by increasing the brain size or number of folds within, but by creating a second "brain". The affected animal has two brains: a biological one and a magical one. The true brain handles everything a brain normally does and is relatively unaffected by the spell. The magical brain, meanwhile, can be understand as an incorporeal consciousness tethered to the body of the awakened animal. It is by all respects a humanoid brain, just without matter to accompany it. It is what allows sapient thought. From there, the animal can exercise a degree of control over its body that would simply not be possible otherwise. The most notable case of this is with the manipulation of vocal cords to speak. What then, does the awaken spell do with plants?
Plants have no brain. They have no vocal cords to speak, or even any muscles to simulate speech. Plants are alive, but they are not active at the same level us animals are. Which is why witnessing an awakened shrub walk across the landscape is so weird. The spell's effects on flora are even more incredible than on fauna, as it fundamentally restructures their biology. Shrubs, as well as trees, are able to bend their cells without the need for muscles or ligaments. The woody bark is usually rendered immobile, but soft shoots and roots are capable of an astonishing degree of flexibility, given the lack of any internal skeleton. Many specimens see four roots become prioritized as walking legs for convenience's sake. Convergent evolution (or adaptation?) at its finest. The next major hurdle is interacting with the environment. Plants have no eyes or noses or ears. However, nothing much needs to be done for this. Plants already have finely tuned senses for "looking" at their environment. The fine hairs on roots are able to detect chemical signals even through many feet of soil, giving them both superb smell and taste. Leaves are able to detect minor degrees of sunlight, though they are effectively blind otherwise. Both leaves, shoots, and roots can detect movement and vibrations. Sound is only vibrations through the medium of air, so plants are two for two. Touch, or tactile sense, is something they lack entirely. As we know it, touch relies on a nervous system, which plants don't have. Awakened plants have described a faint sort of sense similar to touch, but it seems utterly dissimilar to anything we animals can perceive. Those who are transformed into awakened plants describe stiffness and bafflement with the world around them, leading to a paralyzed state.
What do awakened plants do in the wild? Despite possessing sapience, many do not integrate into humanoid society due to the sheer difference in anatomy and psychology. Some may hang around rural areas as points of interest, pointedly turning them into objects rather than people, as humanoids are so used to plants as inanimate objects that even when they walk and talk it is hard to reconcile that with the norm. So, awakened shrubs may slowly lose their inclination to talk, preferring instead to use only their ability to walk. Walking shrubs are actually very successful organisms. Plants are normally stuck in whatever place they place down their roots. Changes in weather and herbivorous animals are free to do as they like. Rather than using costly physiological weapons against these threats, the awakened shrub can simply unearth itself and move away. Got a drought in this valley? Walk for a few hours or days to where it's wetter. Another plant is creeping into your space and siphoning your soil? Uproot the thing and toss it somewhere else. Deer munching your leaves? Shake yourself a little, or push it with a root. Deer are so jumpy they'll leave well enough alone. Even forest fires are usually slow enough that the shrub can flee without hurt. It is perhaps a blessing the awaken spell is not transferable to offspring, as otherwise the shrubs would be so successful that they would surely take over entire forests.
