MIMOSA

 

MIMOSA- SENSITIVE PLANT

MIMOSA PUDICA

MIMOSA Latin mimos a mimic from the leaves of some species mimicking animal movements when touched

The species are almost all tropical, mostly American, a few only being indigenous to Africa and the East Indies.
This phenomenon led to the introduction of M. pudica from Brazil in 1638 and the less sensitive M. sensitiva ten years later. All the species are sensitive to light and in its absence close down their leaves towards the stem. M.pudica in addition is so irritable, that if any portion of the plant is touched, the secondary leaflets contract closely together so, that a plant which a minute before was well clothed with foliage, appears to be leafless.