Mimosa pudica L.

Family: Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Equisetopsida > Fabales > Fabaceae > Mimosa > M. pudica

Common name [English]: Sensitive plant, Humble plant, Touch Me Not

Vernacular name [Malayalam]: തൊട്ടാവാടി

Nativity: Tropical America, now Pantropical.

Habitat: Common on moist and ungrazed places. Near riverbanks, bunds of arable lands, fallow lands and water courses. Found in plains from the coast to 1300m.

Description: Straggling herbs; stem 4-angular, without prickles. Leaves alternate to 12 cm long, pinnae 5-10 pairs; leaflets ca 20 pairs, oblong, 3-7 by 0.75-1 mm, overlapping, apex acute-mucronate, base oblique-truncate; rachis, tomentose;. Flowers pink. Lomentum flat, margin with recurved prickles; seeds 3-5, subrhombic.

Flowering and Fruiting : July-January

Uses : Leaves and roots are used in traditional medicines.

Cultivation : Wild, Cultivated

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org