Mimosa

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Not to be confused with Silver Wattle and Silk Tree, also known as "mimosa".
For other uses, see Mimosa (disambiguation).
Sensitive Plant

Mimosa pudica foliage and flower-heads
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Mimosoideae
Tribe: Mimoseae
Genus: Mimosa
L.
Species

About 400 species, see text.
Mimosa hamanta in Hyderabad, India.
Mimosa prior to a touch
Mimosa with folded-in leaves immediately after a touch

Mimosa is a genus of about 400 species of herbs and shrubs, in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family Fabaceae. There are two species in the genus that are notable. First the Mimosa pudica because of the way it folds its leaves when touched or exposed to heat. It is native to southern Mexico, Central America and South America but is widely cultivated elsewhere for its curiosity value, both as an indoor plant in temperate areas, and outdoors in the tropics. Outdoor cultivation has led to weedy invasion in some areas, notably Hawaii. Second, the Mimosa tenuiflora, which is best known for its use in shamanic ayahuasca brews due to the psychedelic drug DMT found in its root bark.

Contents

[edit] Taxonomy

The genus Mimosa has had a tortuous history, having gone through periods of splitting and lumping, ultimately accumulating over 3,000 names, many of which have either been synonymized under other species or transferred to other genera. In part due to these changing circumscriptions, the name "Mimosa" has also been applied to several other related species with similar pinnate or bipinnate leaves but now classified in other genera, most commonly to Albizia julibrissin (Silk Tree) and Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle).

[edit] Description

Members of this genus are among the few plants capable of rapid movement; examples outside of Mimosa include the Telegraph plant, and the Venus Flytrap. Mimosa can be distinguished from the large related genera, Acacia and Albizia, since its flowers have 10 or fewer stamens. Note that, botanically, what appears to be a single globular flower is actually a cluster of many individual ones.

[edit] Species

There are about 400 species including:

[edit] References

  • Barneby, R.C. 1992. Sensitivae Censitae: A description of the genus Mimosa Linnaeus (Mimosaceae) in the New World. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, vol. 65.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has more pictures of: Mimosa
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimosa"
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