For myself, I saw these interesting plants at the roadside when I was young. My habit was to touch the leaves with my shoes instead of hands until all of them had folded up. Having the patience to wait for their re-opening actions, I went on to see if another mimosa was near by.
From Wikipedia: The generic name is derived from the Greek word μιμος (mimos), meaning "mimic." – a funny name, isn’t it?.
There are two species in the genus that are notable:
[1] One is Mimosa pudica, because of the way it folds its leaves when touched or exposed to heat. It is native to southern Central and South America but is widely cultivated elsewhere for its curiosity value, both as a houseplant in temperate areas, and outdoors in the tropics. Outdoor cultivation has led to weedy invasion in some areas, notably Hawaii.
[2] The other is Mimosa tenuiflora, which is best known for its use in shamanic ayahuasca brews due to the psychedelic drug DMT found in its root bark.
Botanically speaking, what appears to be a single globular flower is actually a cluster of many individual ones. Mimosa contains some level of heptanoic acid.
4 comments:
I remember playing with this when I was a kid in Morse Park near where I used to live in Wong Tai Sin.
I hope you enjoyed playing this game of touch!
We are nostalgic about this plant as well. We think every child would like to touch play with Mimosa. Thank you for teaching us the English name.
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