Mimosa

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.

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).

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.

Species

There are about 400 species including:

• Mimosa aculeaticarpa Ortega
• Mimosa arenosa (Willd.) Poir.
• Mimosa asperata L.
• Mimosa borealis Gray
• Mimosa casta L.
• Mimosa ceratonia L.
• Mimosa diplotricha C.Wright ex Sauvalle
• Mimosa dysocarpa Benth.
  • Mimosa dysocarpa var. dysocarpa Benth.
• Mimosa emoryana Benth.
• Mimosa grahamii Gray
  • Mimosa grahamii var. grahamii Gray
• Mimosa hostilis
• Mimosa hystricina (Small ex Britt. et Rose) B.L.Turner
• Mimosa latidens (Small) B.L. Turner
• Mimosa laxiflora Benth.
• Mimosa malacophylla Gray
• Mimosa microphylla Dry.
• Mimosa nuttallii (DC.) B.L. Turner
• Mimosa pellita Kunth ex Willd.
• Mimosa pigra L.
  • Mimosa pigra var. pigra L.
• Mimosa pudica L. - La sensitive
• Mimosa quadrivalvis L.
  • Mimosa quadrivalvis var. hystricina (Small) Barneby
• Mimosa roemeriana Scheele
• Mimosa rupertiana B.L. Turner
• Mimosa scabrella Benth.
• Mimosa schomburgkii Benth.
• Mimosa somnians
• Mimosa strigillosa Torr. et Gray
• Mimosa tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir. (= Mimosa hostilis)
• Mimosa texana (Gray) Small
• Mimosa turneri Barneby
• Mimosa verrucosa

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.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has more pictures of: Mimosa

• http://www.mimosa-pudica.de/e_index.html
• Two small videos showing the plant folding its leaves