Mimosa pudica L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Mimosaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect to decumbent herb to 50 m tall, with woody base; stems cylindrical, reddish when young, sparsely pilose, with a few recurved prickles, rooting at nodes on contact with the soil. Leaves 7-15 cm long, sensitive to touch; pinnae 1 or 2 opposite pairs on long pilose petiole; leaflets opposite, 14-25 pairs per pinna, 7-12 mm long, obliquely oblong-oblanceolate, chartaceous, the apex obtuse, the base rounded-obtuse, asymmetrical, the margins ciliate; stipules 10-12 mm long, awl-shaped, ciliate. Heads on long (1.5-2.5 cm), pilose peduncles, solitary or clustered in leaf axils, the heads 7-8 mm diam. Flowers 4-merous; calyx 0.1-0.2 mm long, membranous, reddish; corolla 2.2-2.5 mm long, pinkish; filaments pink, twice as long as the corolla. Legume 5-20 x 4 mm , oblong, flattened, constricted between seeds, dehiscent by the separation of the valves from a persistent, thickened margin with straight bristles. Seeds several, ca. 1.7 mm long, oblong-elliptic, flattened.
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Discussion
Common names: grishi grishi, gritchee, sensitive plant.
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Distribution
Common weed of open disturbed areas. Maho Bay Quarter along Center Line Road (A2410). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; widespread throughout the tropics.
Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|