did they need to intend to do so?
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Itās immensely valuable, although not in the usual sense. Mimosa is a vast genus, and mimosoideae are one of the most ecologically-important clades on the planet. Mimosa pudica is not remarkably different to its cousins apart from its ability to move rapidly.
These plants are pioneers: they colonise areas where other plants could not survive. They mine nutrients from the soil and host bacteria that are capable of nitrogen fixing. A succession of other plants then follow. I doubt mimosa pudica was introduced for this reason, but it nevertheless performs a useful function. I have a lot of them on my farm, and I do sometimes uproot them, but thatās mainly because they have vicious thorns that make my life awkward; I have plenty of other plants that perform the same function.
While thatās true, apparently many places have classified Mimosa pudica as an invasive species, including South East Asian countries, Australia and many Pacific islands.
I know. I wonāt assert that thereās no such thing as an invasive species, but mimosas are either harmless or beneficial if they are managed properly. The same applies to other ānoxious weedsā like kudzu and dock. These tough, rapidly-spreading plants will repair land which would otherwise degenerate rapidly into desert after humans have finished buggering it up. As long as you prevent them seeding too extensively and ensure an opportunity for succession, they do what theyāre supposed to do and donāt form static, invasive stands.
Very few pioneer plants can tolerate deep shade or intensive grazing. Where they appear to be forming a monoculture, the correct response would be to send in ruminants and plant a fast-growing overstory (with protection from said ruminants, of course).
Government authorities are often far too keen to see opportunities as problems (ie., as make-work schemes for government authorities).
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I want to introduce everyone to my Edithcolea grandis (Persian carpet flower).
I first received this plant as a birthday present in the summer of 2019. It was part of a trio of little cacti sharing the same pot, and couldnāt have been taller than 3 inches when I received it. It didnāt do much the entire first year I had it, hardly even grew. No one I knew could identify it or tell me how to care for it.
Earlier this year, I repotted it as part of my experimental candle jar terrarium thinking it was meant to stay small, but then it began to grow. It grew to thrice its original size, so big that it started emerging from the jar. By this point, it was too late to extract the cactus; itās spiky all over, so I couldnāt figure out how to safely remove it. I figured it must be happy like this and left it alone.
Then, one day, maybe a month ago, I noticed a bud on the tip of the plant. An extremely small and innocuous bud, barely larger than my pinky fingernail. I thought nothing of it. Continued to water the jar here and there.
Over the course of this last week, the bud ballooned to the size of a ping pong ball. I could sense something very sinister was about to occur.
Finally, this morning, I awoke to see the flower had opened. It was faced away from me, toward the street. I felt an incredible fear as I approached, and when I turned it around, I actually screamed!
I have never grown anything so horrific and primordial. Iām too afraid even to get close enough to smell it, thinking itāll latch onto me like a facehugger and eat my nose. According to the internet, itās supposed to smell like carrion, in order to attract its pollinators ā flies.
As scared as I am of it, I am equally fascinated. I never thought I could feel so repulsed by a flower. But the more I look at it, the more beautiful and special I think it isā¦and the more it appears to be looking back at meā¦
Happy Halloween!
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If you suddenly stop posting, weāll know why 
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Awesome!! Great post too!
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I will have passed into an Otherworldā¦
We ought to observe also that even the things which follow after the things which are produced according to nature contain something pleasing and attractive. For instance, when bread is baked some parts are split at the surface, and these parts which thus open, and have a certain fashion contrary to the purpose of the bakerās art, are beautiful in a manner, and in a peculiar way excite a desire for eating. And again, figs, when they are quite ripe, gape open; and in the ripe olives the very circumstance of their being near to rottenness adds a peculiar beauty to the fruit. And the ears of corn bending down, and the lionās eyebrows, and the foam which flows from the mouth of wild boars, and many other things- though they are far from being
beautiful, if a man should examine them severally- still, because they are consequent upon the things which are formed by nature, help to adorn them, and they please the mind; so that if a man should have a feeling and deeper insight with respect to the things which are produced in the universe, there is hardly one of those which follow by way of consequence which will not seem to him to be in a manner disposed so as to give pleasure. And so he will see even the real gaping jaws of wild beasts with no less pleasure than those which painters and sculptors show by imitation; and in an old woman and an old man he will be able to see a certain maturity and comeliness; and the attractive loveliness of young persons he will be able to look on with chaste eyes; and many such things will present themselves, not pleasing to every man, but to him only who has become truly familiar with nature and her works.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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My friend made the same observation. I never saw the show but these types of flowers definitely excite a deep sense of fear and revulsion so itās a good choice for horror. When I look really closely at my flower I feel the same awful sensations in my hands as I do when I look at trypophobia trigger images.
I have been trying to pinpoint whatās so grotesque about it and I think itās because it looks like a corrupted amalgamation of human features. Itās flesh and blood colored, itās covered in hair, and the circle at the center is like some kind of infected orifice. In a way it looks more like an ear than a flower.
Loved reading this but those bottom pictures almost made me gag. Those circles in the middle of the flower are just eek! 
Is this going to end up being what youāve been training for your whole lifeā¦?
I just got a nice shot of her backlit by the afternoon sun.
Yeah, sheās a little gag-inducing, but I am pretty proud of her nonetheless. I read online that theyāre finicky and hard to keep so that fact that I could make it bloom (even though it was entirely by chance) kinda makes me feel like a gardening pro.
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Did you by chance measure the temperature inside the jar? Iām a bit curious if it is much warmer in the jar compared to the ambient temperature of that area.
I havenāt, and I have no way of measuring the temperature within the jar relevant to the temperature outside, but I bet it is warmer, and I bet it likes that.
Also! I couldnāt get a photo because it happened too fast but a FLY JUST LANDED ON IT! TO POLLINATE!! I am so disgusted and excited.
Did you just assume its gender?
I canāt stop looking at it.
It feels celestial rather than organic. It reminds me of cooling lava that is still cracking and growing, or maybe like the surface of the sun
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Now I know some hoomans will say stuff like ā2020 wouldnāt be complete without the ugliest ever orchid being discoveredāā¦ but I think itās kinda nice. 
To be fair though, the frying pan dwarf shrub is cooler. 
The strangest new species was a dwarf shrub with bizarre scaly leaves that grows in extremely hot natural salt pans in Namibia. Its name ā Tiganophyton ā is derived from the Greek word ĻĪ·Ī³Ī¬Ī½Ī¹ ( tigani) , which means frying pan. DNA analysis showed the plant is part of the cabbage order, but represents a completely new family ā such discoveries are rare.
More here:
thatās because your taste is literally in your ass, oh space creature! but thatās OK: diversity is a good thing!
Typical Homo āsapiensā ignorance of higher speciesā anatomy! 
I solemnly swear Iāve never tasted Gastrodia agnicellus. I may have once eaten a cobra lily that had eaten an insect that had sucked the blood of some stupid biped that had eaten Gastrodia, but thatās the food chain for ya. 
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