College : CMR National PU College, ITPL, Bengaluru

Sample: touch me not plant

Site of sample collection: University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore

Date of Collection: 18 June 2019

Date of Observation: 21 June 2019

Students involved: Gopika Anil, Malavika Rajesh, Ramya Nambiar, Shwetha Santhosh

Description:-

Mimosa pudica 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

Me along with my friends observed this plant under the foldscope and was fascinated by the way it gave us a much detailed and deeply magnified image of every single part that made it . It was so clearly visible that we could learn in detail it’s structure.

The process of folding and recoiling of it’s leaves costs the mimosa pudica plant a lot of energy. Furthermore, this response is also said to interfere with photosynthesis (the process through which leaves prepare food for the plant in the presence of water, carbon dioxide and sunlight). Therefore, it comes as no surprise that botanists are confounded as to why these plants evolved this trait, given that it depletes their energy stores and adversely impacts them.

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