Dormilona

Closing up shop when the sun goes down, the Dormilona has the interesting ability to fold up its leaves when night falls.  Loosely translated to “sleepy-head”, this plant will also quickly tuck itself in when touched or shaken, providing a rather entertaining distraction for kids and adults alike.  Native to Central and South America, the Dormilona’s rapid movement is the result of a chemical response to stimuli in the stems.  Water is forced out of the plant cells, causing a loss of pressure and rigidity and resulting in the ‘collapse’ of the leaves.  This trait is thought to have evolved in order to help the Dormilona fend off the more skittish herbivores nosing around for a meal.  Judging by one of its other common names, the touch-me-not, it seems that this sensitive plant also enjoys simply having a little bit of personal space.

Video courtesy of Evan Markman

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2014 at 8:00 am. It is filed under Costa Rica, Nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.