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catclaw Mimosa

Habit Shrubs, erect, 1–2 m, armed.
Stems

terete, tomentulose or glabrescent;

prickles infrastipular, paired, usually recurved, rarely straight.

Leaves

stipules linear to subulate, 2–4 mm, puberulent;

petiole 0.1–0.7 cm;

primary rachis 0.3–2 cm;

pinnae 2–8 pairs;

leaflets 5–9(–12) pairs, blades obliquely oblong, 2–4 × 0.4–1.3 mm, margins ciliate, reticulate veins slightly visible abaxially, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces puberulent or glabrous abaxially, glabrous adaxially.

Inflorescences

17–40-flowered, axillary, globose capitula, solitary or in fascicles of 2 or 3, 8–12 mm diam.;

bracts spatulate, 1/4–1/2 corolla length.

Peduncles

0.7–1.5 cm.

Pedicels

0 mm.

Flowers

bisexual;

calyx campanulate, lobes 5, (1/3–)1/2–3/4 corolla length;

corolla white or purplish pink on lobes, tomentose or tomentulose, lobes 5, 1/4–1/3 corolla length;

stamens 10, filaments distinct to bases, white;

ovary stipitate, glabrous or pubescent;

style attenuate at apex;

stigma poriform.

Legumes

sessile or stipitate, straight or curved, linear, 25–45 × 3–4 mm, constricted between seeds, valves entire, margin prickly or unarmed, apex acute to acuminate, faces glabrous;

stipe 0.5–1.5 mm.

Seeds

3–8, dark brown, oblong, 3.5–6 × 2–2.7 × 1–1.8 mm, testa smooth or porous, fissural line 40–50%.

Mimosa biuncifera

Phenology Flowering Apr–Aug; fruiting Sep–Dec.
Habitat Sonoran desert, washes, drainage areas, sandy-clay soils, riparian forest in desert grasslands, scattered oaks in broad canyon bottoms, roadsides.
Elevation 150–2700 m. (500–8900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas)
Discussion

Mimosa flexuosa Bentham is an illegitimate name that pertains here.

Mimosa biuncifera is widely distributed in Arizona. It occurs in the southern half of New Mexico, and in central and western Texas, from McLennon County in the east, Floyd and Lamb counties in the north, Uvalde County in the south, and El Paso County in the west.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Caesalpinioideae (Mimosoid clade) > Mimosa
Sibling taxa
M. borealis, M. distachya, M. dysocarpa, M. emoryana, M. grahamii, M. hystricina, M. latidens, M. malacophylla, M. microphylla, M. monclovensis, M. nuttallii, M. pigra, M. pudica, M. quadrivalvis, M. roemeriana, M. rupertiana, M. strigillosa, M. texana, M. turneri
Synonyms M. aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera, M. biuncifera var. flexuosa, M. biuncifera var. lindheimeri, M. lindheimeri, M. warnockii, Mimosopsis biuncifera, M. flexuosa, M. lindheimeri
Name authority Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 12. (1839)
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