This reflex may have evolved as a defense mechanism to disincentivize predators, or alternatively to shade the plant in order to reduce water loss due to evaporation. These types of movements have been termed seismonastic movements. The leaflets also close when stimulated in other ways, such as touching, warming, blowing, and shaking, which are all encapsulated within mechanical or electrical stimulation. Pollens are circular with approximately 8 microns in diameter. On close examination, it is seen that the floret petals are red in their upper part and the filaments are pink to lavender. The globose to ovoid heads are 8–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) in diameter (excluding the stamens). A single flower survives for less than a day, and usually dies completely by the next day. Pedunculate (stalked) pale pink or purple flower heads arise from the leaf axils in mid-summer with more and more flowers as the plant gets older. The leaves are bipinnately compound, with one or two pinnae pairs, and 10–26 leaflets per pinna. pudica usually reaches around ~30cm (~1ft). The stem is slender, branching, and sparsely to densely prickly, growing to a length of 1.5 m (5 ft). The stem is erect in young plants but becomes creeping or trailing with age. Seedling with two cotyledons and some leaflets. Due to Mimosa 's unique response to touch, it became an ideal plant for many experiments regarding plant habituation and memory. This was first studied by French scientist Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan. The foliage closes during darkness and reopens in light. Like a number of other plant species, it undergoes changes in leaf orientation termed "sleep" or nyctinastic movement. Mimosa pudica is well known for its rapid plant movement. It is not shade-tolerant and is primarily found on soils with low nutrient concentrations. The species is native to the Caribbean and South and Central America, but is now a pantropical weed, and can now be found in the Southern United States, South Asia, East Asia, Micronesia, Australia, South Africa, and West Africa as well. In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
It is often grown for its curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched or shaken, defending themselves from harm, and re-open a few minutes later. Mimosa pudica (from Latin: pudica "shy, bashful or shrinking" also called sensitive plant, sleepy plant, action plant, touch-me-not, shameplant ) is a creeping annual or perennial flowering plant of the pea/legume family Fabaceae.
0 kommentar(er)
