Mimosa biuncifera |
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catclaw Mimosa |
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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 |
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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 |
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 | |
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) |
Web links |