the Sensitive Plant; a genus of plants belonging to the mimosæ class; and in the natural method ranking under the 3rd order, Lomentaceæ. See Botany and Materia Medica Index.

The name mimosa, signifying "mimic," is given to this genus on account of the sensibility of the leaves, which, by their motion, mimic or imitate, as it were, the motion of animals.