I remember one day in school my teacher brought in a very interesting plant. The name of this plant is Mimosa Pudica, aka the sensitive plant. This plant is probably the cutest plant I’ve ever seen. Once you touch the leaves of this plant, the leaves slowly close one by one. Never in my life had I seen a plant move by itself, so after seeing the leaves close on it’s own just made me speechless. All I want to do is to learn more about this plant.

The plant Mimosa Pudica is native to tropical America, it is found as a weed in the tropics. This plant can grow up to 50-70 centimeters. Its stems can be bristly or can be hairless. The leaves of this plant are the most interesting part of the plant. According to Kew.org “The leaves are alternate, bipinnate (twice compound), do not have prickles and are very sensitive to touch.” It was discovered by Robert Hooke that the reason why the leaves fold was due to the internal movement of water. A stimulus triggers certain areas of the stem in order to release chemicals. These chemicals cause water to move out of the cell vacuoles, and therefore, lead to cell collapse.

Besides being used for entertainment, the Mimosa Pudica has been used widely in traditional medicine. In India, the leaves are used for glandular swellings and in the Republic of Congo, the plant is rubbed onto people’s body sides to reduce pains. Also the plant has been used to combat glandular tumors and uterine cancer.  In Asia, Mimosa Pudica has been used to treat sleep disorders. As you can see, this plant is wildly used in different countries and can be used to treat all kind of disorders. What an amazing plant!

Sources:

http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/mimosa-pudica-sensitive-plant