Nastic Movements in Plants

[thesummerqueen]

Mimosa pudica. I'm sure there are other touch-sensitive plants, (see where common names get funny?) - in fact I know there are, but they are touch-sensitive in different ways (like shooting poison things out at you, see "Wicked Plants") but Mimosa pudica is the only one I know that responds by folding up like that. I'm purposely ignoring Venus-fly-traps, which close up to feed but only after two trigger hairs have been touched in a specific span of time.

So to answer your question, I'd have to go look and see if any of the other pressure sensitive plants are part of that family - it's a very large one, so it could be, but the plant world is so diverse that I'm inclined to think not.

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I guess a further disclaimer would be that I'm thinking of rapid closure, rather than the habits some plants have of opening and closing depending on night or day hours. See how complex the plant world is?

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I think this might be half the answer - taxonomic problems.

The taxonomy of the genus Mimosa has had a tortuous history, having gone through periods of splitting and lumping, ultimately accumulating over 3,000 names, many of which have either been synonymized under other species or transferred to other genera. In part due to these changing circumscriptions, the name "Mimosa" has also been applied to several other related species with similar pinnate or bipinnate leaves, but are now classified in other genera, most commonly to Albizia julibrissin (silk tree) and Acacia dealbata (wattle).