Over the summer, my family was pleasantly surprised when we found a Mimosa Pudica (or more commonly known as: Shame plants) in our vegetable garden. They tend to grow in dry, hot areas favoring sandy or other water-draining soil. As you can imagine, it is pretty rare to see one here considering an average Vancouver day looks like this:
Great weather for everyone!
According to Agriculture websites that I looked at, Shame plants are usually potted for their oddity factor. From what I understand, the leaves are held out by water pressure (or turgor pressure in this specific case). When the plant experiences external stimuli, the water is then sucked out of the individual petals of leaves, which make them close. In about twenty to thirty minutes, the water slowly trickles back into the leaves: thus reverting back to their initial positions. The best analogy is when you inflate and deflate a balloon by pumping and extracting air.
Here's what a healthy one looks like.
