Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Literature for Mimosa pudica var. unijuga
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2020. Literature for Mimosa pudica
Flora of Pakistan online (accessed 10 May 2013), Wagner et al., 1990, 1999.
   Fabaceae -- The Pea Family Bibliography
      Mimosa pudica
General Information
DistributionA pantropical weed, probably originally from South America.
Habit
Creeping annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs; stems 3-15 dm long, sparsely to densely prickly and sparsely hispid to glabrate.
Leaves
Leaves bipinnately compound, pinnae 1-2 pairs, sensitive, closing when touched, rachis short, leaflets 10-26 pairs per pinna, sessile, narrowly elliptic, 6-15 mm long, 1.2-3 mm wide, adaxially glabrous, abaxially slightly hispid, margin ciliate; petioles glabrous or hispid, usually sparsely prickly; stipules linear-lanceolate, 5-10 mm long, bristly.
Flowers
Flowers in globose or ovoid, pedunculate heads, these 1-5 in the leaf axils, 8-10 mm in diameter (excl. stamens), sparsely to densely hispid, bracts small, linear-acute; calyx minute; corolla red in upper part, glabrous or puberulent, 2-2.5 mm long, divided into 4 obtuse lobes; stamens 4(-6), much exserted; filaments pink to lavender, 4.5-6 mm long; ovary shortly stipitate, glabrous, ovules 3 or 4, style filiform, stigma small.
Fruit
Pods in clusters of 2-8, prickly on the margins, 1-2 cm long, 0.3-0.5 cm wide, flat, recurved, brown, breaking into 3-5, 1-seeded segments, these separating from the persistent, bristly sutures.
Seeds
Seeds pale brown, ovoid, flattened, 2.5-3.5 mm long.
Contributor
David Lorence