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star blasts = makahiya

Makahiya plant

 

Scientific Name: Mimosa Pudica/Aspirata

 

English Name: Sensitive Plant/Bashful Plant/Humble Plant/Tickle-Me Plant

 

The leaflets fold together in the early evening and reopens at sunrise. It is called bashful or sensitive because the leaflets fold together on touching, warming and shaking. The phenomenon is called seismonastic movement due to a rapid change in turgor pressure and changes in membrane permeability in the pulvini cells in the leaf regions with rapid movement of calcium ions. At night, the leaves also fold and bend, termed nyctonastic movements (reaction to absence of light).

 

for more info: www.stuartxchange.com/Makahiya.html

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Uploaded on January 30, 2009
Taken on January 30, 2009