Mimosa pudica L.

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

  • Family

    Mimosaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Mimosa pudica L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Herbaceous, or a little woody, loosely pubescent with long hairs or glabrate, branched, 5 dm. high or less, the stems and branches armed with rather stout, somewhat curved prickles 2-4 mm. long. Stipules lanceolate, striate, acuminate, 3-6 mm. long; petioles slender, with a pulvinus at the base, 2-6 cm. long, deflexed when touched; pinnae 1 pair or 2 approximate pairs, also with a pulvinus at base, 2-6 cm. long; leaflets 15-25 pairs, thin, linear, 6-10 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. wide, folding when touched, acutish at the apex, obliquely rounded at the base; heads ovoid, axillary; peduncles 1-2 cm. long; calyx minute; petals and stamens 4; stamens pink; pods linear-oblong, 2-5-jointed, 1-1.5 cm. long, 3 mm. wide, constricted at the joints, the margins armed with slender straight prickles, otherwise glabrous.

  • Distribution

    Andros at Mastic Point, collected only by Keith: West Indies; continental tropical America : naturalized in the East Indies. Cultivated on New Providence. Sensitive Plant.

    Andros Island Bahamas South America| West Indies| Asia|