The morivivi plant or mimosa pudica.
Hi everyone, how are you? Today I want to tell you a little about a very well-known plant in my country. Scientifically, it's known as Mimosa pudica, but its common name is Moríviví, which, if you break down its name, means "I died and I lived." This reveals the plant's wonderful characteristic: when you touch one of its leaves, it closes automatically, like a door or a book.
This plant has incredible characteristics, so I decided to tell you a little about it today. I also found it yesterday morning on my way to school, and I thought it would be very interesting and fun to share with you. Here's some information from Wikipedia.
It is a perennial plant. Its life cycle can vary depending on the climate in which it is found and grows: it does not tolerate very low temperatures, especially below 0 °C, and it grows optimally at temperatures above 20 °C. In pot its size does not exceed 50 centimeters high, while on land this value can even triple, giving life to 1.5 meter bushes.
This is one of the few plants capable of quick movements, others are the traffic light floor and the dionea flytrap.
Has leaves composed, bipinnates, formed by two pairs of pinnae containing 15-25 pairs of leaflets obtuse linear. Flowers very small, mauve pink in color, in pediceled heads up to 2 cm in diameter. Of roots big. It usually reaches more than a meter in height. Its life is short, approximately 5 years.
I used to think this plant was a carnivorous plant, but over time and when I researched it, I realized that this plant closes its leaves as a method of protection, so it wasn't a carnivorous plant, lol.
This plant is characterized by growing in isolated places or near roads. It also has beautiful flowers and very large, claw-shaped thorns for its size, so if you walk along its edge, they will stick to your clothes.
Besides being far away and thorny, it's a very beautiful plant, and its special characteristic is what makes it so unique. Look, I touched its leaves and they closed. I took a picture so you could see how they closed.
Here's a paragraph from Wikipedia that tells us a little about this strange defense mechanism:
A very notable characteristic is that at the slightest touch of its leaves (composed of numerous leaflets) they contract on the stem as if they were closed, with a mechanism at the base; At the same time, the smaller stems are allowed to overcome by weight.
The nocturnal movements of the leaves are known as nictinastias, and they are a well-described example of a circadian rhythm vegetable regulated by light. The change in the angle of the leaf or leaflet is caused by changes in turgor in the cells of the pulvinule, specialized structure at the base of the petiolo.[2]It is a mechanism caused by one osmosis. Ions enter potassium (K+), which causes the internal environment to become hypertonic regarding the outside and that one occurs turgor. Depending on whether said turgor takes place in the flexor or extensor cells, the leaflets open or close.
This is a defense mechanism against predators, since, when retracted, a large percentage appears to be a withered or withered plant. It is also a mechanism that serves to avoid losing too much water during hot hours or to protect itself from the wind, reducing the surface area. The leaves remain folded overnight.
As we have seen, it is not a carnivorous plant as I thought; this defense mechanism is to protect itself from animals, from dehydration, and to protect itself during the night. Without a doubt, it is an incredible plant.
I love this plant, it's one of my favorites. I learned a lot researching it and sharing about it. Thanks for stopping by my post, see you very soon.
This post was translated from Spanish to English using Google Translate. Please excuse any translation errors. Several texts in this post were taken from Wikipedia; each text has a link at the end to verify its source.