Mimosa pudica |
Mimosa biuncifera |
|
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sensitive plant, shameplant |
catclaw Mimosa |
|
Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, erect or decumbent, 0.3–1 m, armed. | Shrubs, erect, 1–2 m, armed. |
Stems | ribbed to striate, hispid or glabrous; prickles infrastipular, paired, also sparse along internodes, recurved. |
terete, tomentulose or glabrescent; prickles infrastipular, paired, usually recurved, rarely straight. |
Leaves | stipules lanceolate, 7–12 mm, glabrous to sparsely setose; petiole 1–4.5 cm; primary rachis 0–2.5 mm; pinnae 1 or 2 pairs, digitate; leaflets 15–25 pairs, blades obliquely linear-oblong, 5–10 × 2–2.5 mm, margins setose, 1 eccentric vein prominent abaxially, apex acute to mucronate, surfaces glabrous. |
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 | 95–125-flowered, axillary, globose or subglobose capitula, solitary or fascicles of 2 or 3, also disposed in racemiform branches, 10–15 mm diam.; bracts linear to lanceolate, 1/2–2/3 corolla length. |
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 | 1–3 cm. |
0.7–1.5 cm. |
Pedicels | 0 mm. |
0 mm. |
Flowers | bisexual; calyx campanulate, lobes 4, 1/10 corolla length; corolla pink, glabrous, lobes 4, 1/4 corolla length; stamens 4, filaments distinct to base, lilac; ovary sessile to shortly stipitate, glabrous; style attenuate at apex; stigma poriform. |
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, straight, linear-oblong, 10–15 × 3–4 mm, constricted between seeds, valves with 2–5 segments, margin armed, long-setose, apex acuminate, faces glabrous. |
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 | 2–5, ochre, lenticular, 3–3.2 × 2.5–3 × 1–1.2 mm, testa smooth or porous, fissural line 90%. |
3–8, dark brown, oblong, 3.5–6 × 2–2.7 × 1–1.8 mm, testa smooth or porous, fissural line 40–50%. |
Mimosa pudica |
Mimosa biuncifera |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jul–Jan; fruiting Jul–Jan. | Flowering Apr–Aug; fruiting Sep–Dec. |
Habitat | Pinelands, secondary vegetation, burned or cleared pinelands. | Sonoran desert, washes, drainage areas, sandy-clay soils, riparian forest in desert grasslands, scattered oaks in broad canyon bottoms, roadsides. |
Elevation | 0–40 m. (0–100 ft.) | 150–2700 m. (500–8900 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL; MD; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also in tropical Asia, Africa, Australia]
|
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas) |
Discussion | Mimosa pudica is a pantropical species that has become established in Florida; C. F. Reed (1964) included M. pudica in the flora of the chrome and manganese ore piles at Canton, in the Port of Baltimore, Maryland; his record from Newport News, Virginia, cannot be verified, as that is an immature plant, probably corresponding to another species. Varieties of Mimosa pudica were distinguished by J. P. M. Brenan (1959) in tropical East Africa. R. C. Barneby (1991) proposed a modified key to varieties; however, they are not clearly delimited in American populations. Available specimens from the flora area cannot be determined at the infraspecific level. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Caesalpinioideae (Mimosoid clade) > Mimosa | Fabaceae > subfam. Caesalpinioideae (Mimosoid clade) > Mimosa |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. pudica var. unijuga | M. aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera, M. biuncifera var. flexuosa, M. biuncifera var. lindheimeri, M. lindheimeri, M. warnockii, Mimosopsis biuncifera, M. flexuosa, M. lindheimeri |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 518. (1753) | Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 12. (1839) |
Web links |