Incidentally, leaf motion in the _Fabaceae_ (bean family) is not at all
uncommon. At the leaflet bases are little swollen joints called (if
memory serves me) pulvini. These joints allow motion. Some plants are
sensitive to touch, for example, _Mimosa pudica_. There are other
sensitive plants, I think from other genera. I've seen Mexican plants
which are only mildly sensitive. My plant does close its leaves at night.
All the sensitive plants I have seen are in the subfamily _Mimosoidae_.
I am also growing some peanuts (subfamily _Papillionoidae_) and
those close up during the night but are not sensitive. Michael mentioned
_Desmodium motorum_, which has been available from Glasshouse Works in the
past (but not now). Slightly similar, I have some Mexican coral bean in
my yard (_Erythrina flabelliformis_) and its 3-leaflet leaves slowly move
during the day to track the sun or avoid the sun, depending on light
levels. One final plant not in the _Fabaceae_ comes to mind. Once when
I visited Leo Song he showed me a tree in his greenhouse which produces
the fruit called `Star-fruit.' (`Star-fruit' are approximately prolate
spheroids in shape, like a watermelon, but with deep grooves along its
length so if you slice it, it is star-shaped in X-section. These yellow
fruit are available in our grocery stores in the exotic produce section).
The leaves on this plant were also mildly sensitive, Leo claimed, although
he beat and slapped the plant without success. But I believe him. Lastly,
let us not forget that an archaic name for VFTs (not the obscene one!)
is `Fly-trap sensitive'.
The sensitive plants I have seen in the wild and in cultivation like
full sun.
>Barry, is the Cnidoscolus the same as the whip-scorpion or Vinegaroon?
Hah hah hah hah hah hah! The world famous botanist Michael Chamberland
stumbles!
>Ok, Barry, you got me on the Cnidoscolus! I have never bumped in to one,
HAH HAH HAH! Headline: Botanist tripped up by astronomer! Tensions
Heighten in Arizona! :)
Rob:
Ant-lions are the larval form of an insect. I grew some a long
time ago. They need a lot of ants! They ate and ate and then disappeared.
Poking around I found they made little sandy cocoons. They later
crawled out in adult form. Delicate transparent wings.
>I heard of some people who went on a plant collecting trip to west Texas
>and got badly bitten-up by cone-nose beetles. How are they semi-mythical?
Michael, I have heard so many bad things about cone-nose beetles that
I wonder how much of it is urban legend. That is why I call it
semi-mythical. Some day I'll get some reliable info on these things.
Gordon?
B
P.S. I admit, I had to look up the spelling of _Cnidoscolus_.