Mimosa pudica L.
Vernacular name: Touch-me-not, Sensitive plant, Lajjalu (Hindi: छुई-मुई)
Species Name: Mimosa pudica L.
Family: Fabaceae (Mimosoideae)
Habit: Annual/perennial creeping herb
Stem: Prostrate/spreading 15-60 cm long, prickly, 4-angled, rooting at nodes.
Leaf: Abruptly pinnate; 1-2 pairs pinnae, each with 10-26 pairs linear leaflets 7-15×1-2 mm; bipinnate, sensitive (thigmonastic/nyctinastic movements).
Flowering: Year-round in tropics
Flowers: Head-like axillary peduncled spikes 1-1.5 cm diameter, pink; calyx minute 5-toothed, 5 pink corolla tube with 5 lobes, 10 free stamens (anthers small), superior 1-locular ovary.
Fruit: Linear prickly pod 1-2×0.6 cm, 3-6 articles breaking into segments, brown seeds.
Uses:
- In Ayurveda and folk medicines, leaves and roots are used to make pastes or brewed into teas to treat skin swellings, wounds and various digestive ailments like diarrhea and dysentery.
- Herbal products sells powders and extracts of seeds to detox digestive tract and support gut health.
- Plant is found to have antimicrobial, antioxidant, diuretic, antivenom, anticonvulsant and anti-inflammatory properties.
- It is an ornamental curiosity plant due to seismonastic movement. It is an invasive pantropical weed.
- Plant acts as green manure as it is a natural soil nitrogen-fixing plant.
- Plant is known as “Shame plant” of Ayurveda.
- Its seeds are toxic so can be hazardous for child safety.
