Summary ²

Mimosa is a thornless, mat-forming, perennial plant usually growing 3 to 4 inches tall. It spreads by rhizomes. It is a legume whose roots can produce nodules in association with nitrogen fixing bacteria, thus adding nitrogen to the soil. Leaves are alternate, bi-pinnate, with 3 to 6 pairs of opposite pinnate, and as many as 21 pairs of small leaflets. The leaves are larger in partial shade, up to 11 inches long and 4 inches wide and smaller in full sun, commonly 3.5 inches long and 2 inches wide. The leaflets are remarkably sensitive to touch, folding up within one or two seconds after being disturbed. The showy, pinkish, globose to shortly cylindric inflorescence are present from spring through summer. Situated on long slender peduncle, they are about one inch long. They are comprised of many florets each having fused petals and 10 or fewer free pink stamens. Every stamen is tipped with a golden colored pollen. Many of these inflorescences give way to small, flattened, oblong pods with minute bristles. Mature pods are brown and they open to expel seeds.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) t_kok, all rights reserved
2. (c) t_kok, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• World Flora Online

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