Mimosa
Description 2
Herbs or shrubs; stems armed with prickles. Leaves 2-pinnate, sensitive (in ours). Inflorescences of ovoid or subspherical heads which are axillary or arranged in clusters. Flowers bisexual or male. Calyx very small. Corolla gamopetalous, (3-)4(-6)-lobed. Pods flat, bristly or prickly (in ours), splitting transversely into 1-seeded segments.
Diagnostic description 3
Mimosa
Erect or scandent herbs or shrubs; stems spiny. Leaves alternate, bipinnate; pinnae opposite; leaflets small, numerous, opposite; petioles and rachis without nectariferous glands; stipules minute, deciduous or persistent; stipels minute or absent. Flowers bisexual or staminate, produced in heads, solitary or grouped in axillary or terminal racemes; bracts small, usually shorter than the corolla. Calyx minute, hypocrateriform, crowned by 5 minute sepals; corolla yellow or pink, infundibuliform, with 3-6 lobes (petals); stamens as numerous as or double the number of petals, exserted, the filaments free; ovary superior, stipitate, with several ovules, the style filiform, the stigma punctiform. Fruit an oblong legume, chartaceous, flattened, indehiscent or dehiscent by the walls that separate from the thickened margin, usually spiny; seeds flattened, lenticular or ovate. A genus of about 450 species, of pantropical distribution, the majority of the Neotropics.
Sources and Credits
- (c) 106611639464075912591, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by 106611639464075912591, https://picasaweb.google.com/106611639464075912591/GreenCorridor20140812#6047345563408637682
- (c) Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten and Petra Ballings, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/30272347
- (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435414
