I want some info about the mimosa..

The Sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica L.) is a creeping annual or perennial herb often grown for its curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched, re-opening within minutes. Mimosa pudica is native to Brazil, but is now a pantropical weed. Other names given to this curious plant are Humble plant, Shame plant, Sleeping grass, Prayer Plant, Touch-me-not, Makahiya (Philippines, meaning "shy"), and Mori Vivi (West Indies). The Chinese name for this plant translates to "shyness grass". The species epithet, pudica, is Latin for "bashful" or "shrinking".

The stem is erect in young plants, but becomes creeping or trailing with age. The stem is slender, branching, and sparsely to densely prickly, growing to a length of 1.5 m (5 ft). The leaves are bipinnately compound, with one or two pinnae pairs, and 10-26 leaflets per pinna. The petioles are also prickly. Pedunculate (stalked) pale pink or purple flower heads arise from the leaf axils. The globose to ovoid heads are 8-10 mm in diameter (excluding the stamens). On close examination, it is seen that the floret petals are red in their upper part and the filaments are pink to lavender. The fruit consists of clusters of 2-8 pods from 1-2 cm long each, these prickly on the margins. The pods break into 2-5 segments and contain pale brown seeds some 2.5 mm long.

Mimosa
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For other uses, see Mimosa (disambiguation).
iSensitive Plant


Mimosa pudica foliage and flower-head
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Fabales

Family: Fabaceae

Subfamily: Mimosoideae

Genus: Mimosa
L.

Species
Mimosa hostilis
Mimosa nuttallii
Mimosa pudica
Mimosa strigillosa
and about 400 other species.

Mimosa is a genus of about 400 species of herbs and shrubs, in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family Fabaceae, with evenly bipinnate leaves. The best-known species is Mimosa pudica, which is also known as the sensitive plant or sleeping grass because of the way it folds its leaves down when touched or exposed to heat; many others also fold their leaves in the evening. It is native to southern Mexico and Central America but is widely cultivated elsewhere for its curiosity value, both as an indoor plant in temperate areas, and outdoors in the tropics. Outdoor cultivation has led to weedy invasion in some areas, notably Hawaii.

Members of this genus are among the few plants capable of rapid movement; examples outside of Mimosa include the Telegraph plant, and the Venus Flytrap.

The genus Mimosa has had a tortuous history, having gone through periods of splitting and lumping, ultimately accumulating over 3,000 names, many of which have either been synonymized under other species or transferred to other genera. In part due to these changing circumscriptions, the name "Mimosa" has also been applied to several other related species with similar pinnate or bipinnate leaves but now classified in other genera, most commonly to Albizia julibrissin (Silk Tree) and Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle).

In Russia, it is customary to present women with yellow mimosas (among other flowers) on International Women's Day (March 8). This flower is from the Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle), which is not a true Mimosa.

Two small videos showing the plant folding its leaves

[edit] References
Barneby, R.C. 1992. Sensitivae Censitae: A description of the genus Mimosa Linnaeus (Mimosaceae) in the New World. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, vol. 65.

[edit] External links
http://www.mimosa-pudica.de/e_index.html
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimosa"
Categories: Mimosoideae | Invasive species

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Mimosa is a genus of about 400 species of herbs and shrubs, in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family Fabaceae, with evenly bipinnate leaves. The best-known species is Mimosa pudica, which is also known as the sensitive plant or sleeping grass because of the way it folds its leaves down when touched or exposed to heat; many others also fold their leaves in the evening. It is native to southern Mexico and Central America but is widely cultivated elsewhere for its curiosity value, both as an indoor plant in temperate areas, and outdoors in the tropics. Outdoor cultivation has led to weedy invasion in some areas, notably Hawaii.

Members of this genus are among the few plants capable of rapid movement; examples outside of Mimosa include the Telegraph plant, and the Venus Flytrap.

The genus Mimosa has had a tortuous history, having gone through periods of splitting and lumping, ultimately accumulating over 3,000 names, many of which have either been synonymized under other species or transferred to other genera. In part due to these changing circumscriptions, the name "Mimosa" has also been applied to several other related species with similar pinnate or bipinnate leaves but now classified in other genera, most commonly to Albizia julibrissin (Silk Tree) and Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle).

In Russia, it is customary to present women with yellow mimosas (among other flowers) on International Women's Day (March 8). This flower is from the Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle), which is not a true Mimosa.