Mimosa niomarlei Afr.Fern.
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Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. 1991. Sensitivae Censitae. A description of the genus Mimosa Linnaeus (Mimosaceae) in the New World. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 65: 1-835.
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Family
Mimosaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
392. Mimosa niomarlei A. Fernandes, Anais Soc. Bot. Brasil Congr. Nac. Bot. 19 (Fortaleza): 93. 1968.—"Habitat in Serra Meruoca—Ceará, Brasil, loco Santo Antônio. Specimina lecta ab A. Fernandes-[EAC] n° 2046 de 6-I-1961 (Holotypus) et n° 2189 de 6-VI-196
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Description
Species Description - Diffuse or subscandent herbs of unknown potential duration, with terete brown stems at once puberulent and hispid with rusty setae to 1.5-2 mm, armed at and below nodes with a pair of immediately infrastipular aculei and one downwardly displaced infrapetiolar one, these all recurved and to ±2 mm long, the ample lfts glabrous except for strigose hypophyllum of the smaller proximal pair and for discontinuously appressed-setose-ciliate margin, the small capitula solitary in a long succession of lf-axils on peduncle much shorter than the subtending lf-stk. Stipules linear-lanceolate ±5-10 mm, strongly 3-nerved, hispid-ciliate, persistent. Leafstalks slender 3-6 cm, shallowly widely sulcate ventrally; pinnae 2-jug., the rachis to ± 1 cm, the linear-lanceolate paraphyllidia 2-4 mm; lfts 2-jug., the smaller proximal pair ovate unequal, the distal pair obliquely obovate, shortly broadly acuminulate, to 2-3.5 x 1.2-2 cm, palmately nerved. Peduncles 1-2 cm; capitula ± 16-fld, the 4-merous 4-androus fls all ascending and all bisexual; bracts subsetiform ±1.5 mm; flowers with subtruncate, 0.2 mm calyces; corolla narrowly trumpet-shaped 1.6-2 mm, glabrous, the ovate cymbiform, dorsally carinate lobes 0.5-0.6 mm; filaments pink, exserted 2 mm. Pods radiating in a dense cluster, narrowly oblong ±10-19 x 4.5-5 mm, 2-3(-4)-seeded, the shallowly undulate replum ±0.25 mm wide, hispid on back and sides with straight erect tapering setae to 4 mm, the papery valves likewise thinly setose but otherwise glabrous, when ripe breaking up into free-falling, individually dehiscent articles 4-6 mm long; seeds broadly obovate in profile ±3 x 2.5 mm, the testa smooth fuscous.
Distribution and Ecology - In disturbed brush-woodland, apparently local in w. Ceará, Brazil, between 3°25' and 6°30'S (Sa. Meruoca s. to Parambú).—Fl. indefinite.— Malica de boi.
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Discussion
I am acquainted with M. niomarlei only through specimens (Nunes, EAC 11431) kindly provided by its describer, Prof. Fernandes. In the protologue it was compared with M. rixosa of subser. Mimosa, but the few-flowered capitula of small ascending flowers are characteristic of subser. Affines and the plant as a whole closely resembles at nearly all points the Mexican M. tequilana. In addition to the weak differential characters noted in the key to the subseries, M. niomarlei appears to be a somewhat taller plant, at first sight suggesting a broad-leaflet form of M. debilis. Despite the immense distance between their ranges, I am not altogether confident that M. tequilana and M. niomarlei are specifically distinct.
In the protologue the epithet is spelled, at the beginning of the description, nomarlei, but elsewhere, as on herbarium labels provided by Prof. Fernandes, as niomarlei, adopted herein.
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Distribution
Brazil South America| Ceará Brazil South America|