What are Some Interesting Plants
This introduction covers various interesting plants, including those beyond the well-known sensitive plant. These plants can surely provide you with helpful information, so let's dive in!
What are some interesting plants? (Besides the sensitive plant) Nature is full of fascinating plants, such as the touch-me-not plant that emits a fragrance when touched, the sensitive plant that closes its leaves upon contact, the morning glory that senses light and dark changes, water lilies, oxalis, and the red spider lily that never sees its leaves and flowers together.
Touch-me-not Plant
The touch-me-not plant, also known as the fragrant plant, touch-keeping fragrance (Chu Liu Xiang??), and downy fragrant tea plant, is remarkable for its ovate leaves that are arranged in opposite pairs. When touched, they emit a refreshing scent. The reason the touch-me-not plant emits fragrance is that when its leaves are stimulated by touch, the water inside the cells acts, causing the turgor pressure in the leaf cushions to change. The internal air pores expand, allowing a volatile substance with an apple-like fragrance to diffuse into the air through the pores. In fact, the touch-me-not plant also emits a faint fragrance under normal circumstances, but it is so subtle that it is not easily detected. This plant is adorable and very easy to care for. It can root in soil, and if it looks droopy, soaking the branches in water for two days will restore it. I cut a few branches from a colleague in May, and now I have successfully propagated three or four pots!
Sensitive Plant
The leaves of the sensitive plant react to heat and light, drooping when touched, and the small leaves closing. This behavior is interpreted by people as "shyness," hence it is called the sensitive plant, shy plant, bashful plant, and other names.
The principle behind the sensitive plant's leaves closing upon touch is similar to that of the touch-me-not plant, but differs in that when the sensitive plant is disturbed, the turgor pressure in the upper cells of the leaf cushion decreases, while the lower part maintains its original pressure, causing the small leaves to stand up and close together, and even causing the entire leaf to droop. The sensitive plant's shy characteristic is endearing to people, and many children have kept one before!
Night-sensitive Plants
The nyctinastic movements of plants are mainly caused by the changes in light and dark between day and night. These include mainly leguminous plants (such as soybeans, peanuts, and acacia) and other plants like oxalis, whose leaves open during the day and close or droop at night. This is due to the periodic changes in turgor pressure in the cells at the base of the petiole.
What are Some Interesting Plants
Morning glories, also known as牵牛花 (qian niu hua), bloom in the morning and wilt at dusk; evening glories bloom at dusk and wilt at dawn. There are many flowers with similar characteristics. Can you identify the flower below?