Sensitive plant
Mimosa pudica
A garden curiosity for centuries, the unusual leaves of this plant native to the Caribbean and South America fold together when touched. Sensitive Plant produces pink, mimosa-like, pompom flowers in mid-summer.
Seeds of the Sensitive Plant were first planted in an oval flower bed at Monticello on March 22, 1811. The seeds had been sent by Philadelphia nurseryman, Bernard McMahon, who discussed the plant in his 1806 The American Gardener's Calendar. McMahon wrote, "The sensibility of this plant is worthy of admiration, that ... [with] the least touch, ... the leaves just like a tree a dying, droop and complicate themselves immediately ... so that a person would ... think they were really endowed with the sense of feeling."
This plant is a tender, flowering shrub grown as an annual with wide mats of finely textured leaves that close when touched and small pink, pompon flowers in summer.
In Bloom at Monticello is made possible by support from The Richard D. and Carolyn W. Jacques Foundation.
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Heirloom Seeds and Plants from the Monticello collection
Plant history in your gardens with seeds and plants from Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.
