Mimosa
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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
Genus Description - Herbs or erect or scandent shrubs; stems with numerous prickles. Leaves twice-pinnate; pinnae opposite, the leaflets numerous and opposite; petiole and rachis without nectariferous glands; stipules minute, deciduous or persistent. Flowers bisexual or wholly staminate, in axillary or terminal globose heads; bracts small, usually shorter than the corolla, subpersistent; calyx minute nearly cup-shaped, with 5 minute teeth at apex; corolla yellow or pink, funnel-shaped with 3-6 petals; stamens as many or twice as many as the petals, longexserted the filaments'free; ovary stipitate, with several ovules, the style filiform, the stigma punctiform. Legume oblong, flattened, DaDerv straight breaking away from ribbed entire or spiny margins, beaked at apex, indehiscent; seeds transverse, lenticular to widely ovate.
Distribution and Ecology - A genus of about 450 species, with pantropical distribution, predominantly from the neotropics.