Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica)

Sensitive Plant is an annual, native to Brazil from where it was collected by the Portuguese who then carried it to Europe. Because of its curious behavior, the leaves fold up when touched, it quickly became very popular as an oddity in gardens throughout Europe and Great Britain. By the 1700s it had re-emerged in the New World and was a part of many American gardens. Joseph Breck, in his 1851 book on American flower gardening, Breck’s Book of Flowers, had this to say about the sensitive plant, “This singular plant calls forth universal admiration. It has been a puzzle to many a philosopher…’Weak with nice sense the chaste Mimosa stands, From each rude touch with draws her tender hands; Oft, as light clouds o’erpass the summer glade, Alarmed she trembles at the moving shade…’”