It's alive! Alive, I tell you! ALIVE!

Recently I've been seeing ads for this plant-turned-toy called "The TickleMe Plant". I ran into several instances where people mentioned how "interesting and fun!" it was, and I was curious. Here's the scoop: it's a plant, one that is, interestingly, usually considered a weed, that reacts to different stimuli- aka, if you touch it, it freaks out. Actually, if you touch it, heat it, or any-other-number-of-things it, it reacts. Here's a video of it in action (it's long, you don't have to watch all of it, the interesting parts are at the beginning, from 1:58 to 2:18, and at 3:13):



Having seen that and the ads on the "TickleMe Plant" website, I was curious enough about how and why this happens to do some research. As it turns out, according to wikipedia, the plant has two types of movement- nyctinastic, meaning it closes at sunset and reopens at sunrise, and seismonastic, meaning the response to stimulus and transmission of that stimulus (if you tap a leaf, it AND the leaves around it close).

The really interesting question is WHY DOES THIS PLANT DO THIS WEIRD STUFF?
The answer? I'm not sure. And for all the research I've done, I haven't been able to find much out. It's not to capture prey, like a venus fly trap, and not to spread seeds or pollen, like impatiens. I will keep looking for an answer to this question, but I don't know if I'll find one.

Another interesting question is HOW do the leaves drop as quickly as they do? It's all about pressure. When stimulated, a "strategically-situated cell" releases whatever pressure it had built up, and the leaves droop. The pressure that is built up and let go repeatedly is created through the passage of water into and out of the cell- water pressure!

I'm tempted to get one of these plants, branded as "Tickle Me Plants", and if I do I will keep you all updated with photos! I don't quite trust my green thumb, though...