Touch-Me-Not Plant
Brush a finger against this plant’s leaves and they fold shut within seconds — a rare example of rapid movement in the plant world, triggered by a sudden shift in water pressure inside its cells.
Book a visit and give it the gentlest tap you can manage.
Additional Information
Its scientific name, Mimosa pudica, means “shy” or “bashful” in Latin, describing exactly how it reacts to touch.
The folding happens because touch triggers specialized cells at the base of each leaflet to rapidly lose water pressure, collapsing the leaf shut. After a short time, the cells regain pressure and the leaves reopen. This movement is called thigmonasty — a plant response to touch that does not depend on the direction of the stimulus.
Scientists have shown the plant can even “learn” — after repeated harmless touches, it gradually stops bothering to fold, then still reacts normally to a genuinely new kind of disturbance.