The touch-me-not plant protects itself against herbivores by folding its leaves inward upon touching. Because the movement is so fast, it scares away the animals. The leaves also close during the night, or if it is very windy. The closure is induced by activated compounds that cause the water to diffuse from the cells, and therefore they lose their turgor (pressure on the cell wall) and collapse. The leaves need about 30 minutes to open again.
The touch-me-not plant can be grown indoors in the windowsill, where the pot preferably always needs to stand in a saucer with water.
Sowing description: Shortly pour hot water on the seeds, then let them soak for 12 hours in lukewarm water. Swollen seeds can be sown in sowing mix. Seeds that haven’t swollen need to be poured over with hot water and soaked another time. The sowing mix needs to be constantly moist, and can be covered with plastic foil or glass. Let the seeds germinate at 20-25 degC.
Family: Fabaceae
Scientific name: Mimosa pudica
Common name: Touch-me-not plant
Native to: South America
Sowing time: Whole year
Difficulty: Intermediate
Minimum temperature: 15 degrees Celsius
