When I was a child, Ma often used to tell me about the touch-me-not plants. She had come across them decades ago when grandpa had been posted in Siligudi. Even as a child with an impressionable mind, I would often look at her in disbelief. I grew up in Delhi and as long as I was there, Ma was unable to produce a specimen of the touch-me-not plant before me. Then I read about it in my school biology book (class six I suppose) and even then it remained one of those exotic species of plants that you merely read about in school textbooks. Mimosa pudica, 'nice', I would often think.

I saw the touch-me-not plant for the first time barely three years ago on a trek near Bangalore. The discovery was accidental. On touching one, I don't know who suffered a greater visible change - me or the Mimosa?

Of course now, I am much better acquainted with the plant. I see it often - usually as a weed that has taken roots amidst other prettier flowering plants. Though Mimosa is a bit of a beauty itself - it bears bright pink globular flowers:

I remember being equally fascinated by the 'touch-me'not' and the 'carnivorous' plants...and like you, I've since then come across several specimens of the former. The only time I saw a carnivorous plant was at a flower exhibition...

By  G Shrivastava, at 23.8.05  

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hey thanks! I had never seen (rather still haven't seen) the flower of touch-me-not and always believed that it was non-flowering!!

The way you remember your ma, I too remember my dad bringing it home in a lil' pot for me ages ago! :)

By  Stargazer, at 24.8.05  

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Haaa. Once again.

Touch-me-not (or thottavaadi in Malayalam - translated, "touchy") is a childhood friend! :)

By  sajith, at 24.8.05  

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Did not know that the touch-me-not had flowers. The flower looks like the skirt of a fairy's gown!
- Rhus Radicans

By  Anonymous, at 24.8.05  

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This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By  GhanaShyam, at 24.8.05  

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Hey Geetanjali, the only place where I've seen a carnivorous plant - rather an insectivorous plant - is the formalin filled jar in my school biology lab. "Pitcher Plant" is what we used to call that one :)

Hi Aditi, hope you get to see one in real life soon!

Hey Sajith.. I've made friends with it too! The name in Hindi, if I am not mistaken is Chhui Muui - छुई मुई. I am not sure if it has a literal meaning (I'll still hazard a guess; chhui - touch Mui - dead; a plant that dies upon touching), though it does seem to convey the plant's feelings on being touched :)

Rhus ji, to borrow a phrase from you - "Unprintable noises" :-)

Hey Ghana, why did you take the comment off? It would have been cool to have people leave the name of this plant in their native language as a comment!

By  Deepak, at 6.9.05  

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