Plant
Mimosa pudica is a herbaceous growing plant, with a woody stem only at the base, which can measure 0.15 to 1.0 meters in length and 0.3 meters in width.
Stem
The stem is cylindrical up to 2.5 cm in diameter, with few spines, and is covered with thick and long weak hairs. In addition, the stem has longitudinal grooves, and has a light brown outer surface. While the inner surface is gray. In turn, the mature stem shows exfoliated cork, with four to eight layers of elongated cells filled with reddish-brown content.
Foliage
The leaves of M. pudica have stipules 5 to 10 mm long, and are composed of 1 or 2 pairs of sessile pinnae. In addition, the leaves are hairy, alternate, and hang from a petiole 1 to 5 cm long.
Each leaf is lanceolate in shape and may contain 10 to 20 pairs of leaflets, each 5 to 10 mm long and 1.5 to 2.5 mm wide. The leaflets are obliquely linear to linear-oblong, and the upper surface and underside lack pubescence.
Root
It is cylindrical in the shape of a spindle, and has 2 cm wide secondary and tertiary roots, which vary in length. The root surface is more or less rough or wrinkled. In addition, it has a coloration that varies from greyish brown to brown.
Inflorescence
It is organized in chapters of 1.0 to 1.5 cm in diameter, globose, with 95 to 125 flowers. Each inflorescence is axillary, solitary and racemose. The inflorescence hangs from a peduncle 1 to 3 cm long, pubescent, and without spines. The bracts, on the other hand, are located 0.5 to 0.75 cm in length from the corolla, are linear to lanceolate, and do not have pubescence.
Flowers
The flowers are hermaphroditic, sessile and have a calyx ten times smaller than the corolla. The calyx has four lobes, campanulate, without pubescence, and has a smooth margin.
The corolla, meanwhile, has four free pink lobes, and is devoid of pubescence. On the other hand, the filaments of the stamens are free and lilac in color.
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Plant sensitivity to touch
Sensitivity
The mimosa is a plant that has a great peculiarity that does not lie precisely in the beauty of its flowers, but in the particular way in which its leaves fold when touched. This is a defense mechanism that the plant uses to protect itself from external agents and they also do it at night to protect itself from the environment. Although it may seem fun to touch its leaves to see how they fold, the truth is that this action requires a great expenditure of energy from the plant, which could weaken it if done too frequently. It is also believed that Mimosa Pudic, when folding, defends itself from the wind or avoids the dehydration of its leaves in hours of high sun, as other plant species do.
Toxicity
Mimosine is a non-protein amino acid found in Mimosa pudica and other plants of the Mimosoideae subfamily. This component, plus an enzyme from plant tissue, produces 3,4-dihydroxy pyridone (3,4-DHP), a powerful goitrogen, which is transformed, by mechanical effects, into 2,3-DHP.
The mimosine; 3,4-DHP; and 2,3-DHP are toxic, and are associated with several diseases in domestic animals. In ruminants, mimosine causes hair loss and inhibits the absorption of iodine in the thyroid.
Although Mimosa pudica is toxic to most poultry animals, in humans it is classified as a non-poisonous herb.
