MIMOSA PUDICA

Plant Name: MIMOSA PUDICA

English Name: Sensitive Plant, Sleeping Grass, Touch me not

Local Name: Touch me not, LAJWANTI

Family: Mimosaceae, Fabaceae

Uses:
The seeds and other plant parts of sensitive plant contain mimonsine, an amino acid that is known to cause hair loss and depressed growth in mammals (Arora 1983). The medicinal use of the plant Mimosa pudica dates back to Charaka and Sushruta. The sensitive plant is commonly used for bleeding disorders like menorrhagia, dysentery with blood and mucus, and piles. The root powder or decoction is used. The juice of freshly crushed leaves is used internally and externally in piles. A preliminary clinical trial, in 9 women with menorrhagia, exhibited promising results with relief in severity of bleeding. It is also applied externally to fissures, skin wounds and ulcers. Its action on small blood vessels is implicated in its hemostatic property.