Albert's Greenhouse

We are all fascinated by plants that move. I grow venus flytraps, myself. I also unintentionally grow something called Biophytum sensitivum, which folds its leaves in a way reminiscent of Mimosa pudica ( common name - sensitive plant ) when it's touched. Though the Biophytum has become a bit of a weed, I still tolerate it - the plants look like little miniature palm trees, but with pretty pink flowers coming up in my greenhouse pots.

Here are some plants that move:

Mimosa pudica - the most famous "sensitive plant". A weed in the tropics, it grows easily if you have fresh seed, flowers look like powder puffs. Touch the leaves once, and they fold up. Touch them again, and the leaf bends towards the ground. There are actually many species of Mimosa which act this way - Mimosa invisa is another which is occasionally available.

Biophytum sensitivum - If mimosa is a plant which gets too big and scraggly for you, try Biophytum. It has the same reproductive tendencies as Mimosa, spreading easily in the greenhouse by seed, but it stays small - less than 4" tall - and has similar touch-sensitive traits. It usually moves a bit slower, though. In my mind, these plants are much more pretty than Mimosa.

Dionaea muscipula - Venus' flytrap is probably the most famous carnivorous plant. This wonder of the plant world probably holds the record for repeatable plant motion speed. The ends of its leaves are formed in to clamshell traps which have just a few sensitive hairs on their insides. Touch the hairs once, and nothing happens. Touch the hairs again, and the trap quickly folds closed. If you're a bug and you're stuck inside, you get digested. Coming from the swamps of Delaware, Venus' flytrap is a bit harder to grow than the other plants mentioned here. See here for some pointers.

Desmodium gyrans - Called the "telegraph plant" because it tends to shake of its own accord when in the sun. I've never actually seen this happen, though I did grow the plant once. Maybe I did not have enough sun. You can find seed on the internet...

Maranta species - These are neither touch sensitive nor fast, but I have a Maranta leuconeura v. erythroneura on my desk at work which moves every day. During the nighttime, the leaves turn more vertical, almost pointing at the ceiling. In the morning, they fold back down to capture the light. This happens every night, and is the Maranta's way of keeping its leaves above those of other plants crawling on the forest floor.

It has been pointed out to us be David Attenborough that all plants actually move. They move very slowly, and usually just by growing, but they do move. His book and BBC television series "The Private Life of Plants" is one of the things that got me into this hobby in the first place. I highly recommend that you pick it up. VHS and the book are available from amazon.com, but the coolest thing is the whole series on 2 DVDs ( PAL and Region 2 coded ) is available from amazon.co.uk.

In six hour-long episodes, we are shown many wonders of the plant world, many in habitat, and most filmed with time-lapse photography to show us how the plants actually do move. Everything from the ecology of the english woodlands to the reasons for the size of Amorphopahllus titanum and rafflesia are discussed. It's a truly amazing series for the botanically inclined.