"The Shy Plant"

"The Shy Plant"

Kingdom : Plantae 

Divisi : Spermatophyta

Class: Dicotyledons

Order: Fabales

Family: Fabaceae

Genus: Mimosa

Species: M.Pudica

Mimosa pudica (from Latin: pudica "shy, bashful or shrinking"; also called sensitive plant, sleepy plant, action plant, Dormilones, touch-me-not, shameplant, zombie plant, or shy plant) is a creeping annual or perennial flowering plant of the pea/legume family Fabaceae and Magnoliopsida taxon.

Soo why this plant called "the shy plant"? Because when we touch its leaves, the leaves will be shrinking and closing. It is actually a reaction of stimulus as there is a higher pressure at that point and the water in the vacuoles of the cells of the leaf lose water to the adjacent cell. All the water escapes the leaf (via the pulvinus) which then becomes flaccid. Or we can call it seismonastic movement.

The species is native to South America and Central America, but is now a pantropical weed, and can be found in Southern United States, South Asia, East Asia and South Africa as well. It is not shade tolerant, and is primarily found on soils with low nutrient concentrations.

Description

The stem is erect in young plants, but becomes creeping or trailing with age. It can hang very low and become floppy. The leaves are bipinnately compound, with one or two pinnae pairs, and 10–26 leaflets per pinna. The flower petal color is pale pink and purple. On close examination, it is seen that the floret petals are red in their upper part and the filaments are pink to lavender. 

Mimosa pudica also have fruits. The fruit consists of clusters of two to eight pods from 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) long each, these being prickly on the margins. The pods break into two to five segments and contain pale brown seeds about 2.5 mm (0.1 in) long.

Predators

Mimosa pudica has several natural predators, such as the Spider mite and Mimosa webworm. Both of these insects wrap the leaflets in webs that hinder the responsive closing. Webbed leaves are noticeable as they become brown fossilized remnants after an attack.The Mimosa webworm is composed of two generations that arise at different seasons. This makes prevention difficult and requires proper timing of insecticides to avoid aiding other predators. Once the larvae become steel-gray moths they are harmless to the plant, but lay more eggs.

The benefits

The species can be a weed for tropical crops, particularly when fields are hand cultivated. In addition, Mimosa pudica can change the physico-chemical properties of the soil it invades. For example, the total N and K increased in significantly invaded areas. 

Mimosa pudica can form root nodules that are habitable by nitrogen-fixing bacteria.[29] The bacteria are able to convert atmospheric nitrogen, which plants cannot use, into a form that plants can use.

Google slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-T6pYEHVAEvn0syCpwgUMaqk16vIRUw8LAwE4yKIEXA