PERKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF POETO RICO. 147 



minute, i as long as the corolla, cupulate, slightly divided, with 6 to 8 substipitate 

 glands on the margin; corolla 3 mm. long; legume subsessile, 4 to 5 mm. in diameter, 

 1.5 to 4 cm. long, aculeate; seeds subrectangular, 4.5 to 5 mm. long, 2.5 mm. wide, 

 black. 



Near Coamo, in the mountain forests of San Ildefonso and on shady slopes in El 

 Tendal Valley. Indigenous. 



Local name, cuernecillo. 



8. MIMOSA L. 



Mimosa L. Sp. PI. 1: 516. 1753. 

 Lomoplis Raf. Sylva Tellur. 118. 1838. 



Flowers 4 or 5, rarely 3 to 6-merous, hermaphrodite or polygamous; calyx usually 

 small, sometimes wanting or paleaeform, often laciniate or fimbriate, rarely eampan- 

 ulate and short -toothed ; corolla campanulate or funnelform; stamens (as many as 

 or) twice as many as the petals, free, exserted; ovary sessile or substipitate, 2 to 

 many-seeded; style filamentose; legume oblong or linear, compressed, rarely incras- 

 sated, membranous or coriaceous, valves separating entire or in transverse segments 

 from the persistent sutural replum; seeds ovate or oblong, flat. Decumbent or erect 

 herbs, scandent undershrubs, or trees, unarmed or aculeate; leaves bipinnate, rarely 

 wanting or reduced to a leaflike stem; petiolar glands present; flowers small, in glo- 

 bose heads or cylindrical spikes, axillary or racemose toward the extremities, soli- 

 tary or fascicled. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Pinnae 2-jugate, rarely 1-jugate; leaflets 15 to 25-jugate; petiole and 

 peduncle unarmed; legume 1.5 to 2 cm. long, 4 mm. wide, covered 

 with recurved bristles. 1. M. pudica. 



Pinnae 3 to 5-jugate; leaflets 3-jugate; petiole and peduncle armed; 

 legume 5 to 5.5 cm. long, 2 cm. wide, with large recurved prickles 

 on the margins. 2. M. ceratonia. 



1. Mimosa pudica L. 



(Urban, 267.) 



Undershrub or an herb, often scandent, armed with infrastipular and scattered 

 prickles; leaflets oblong-linear, pointed, ciliate with adpressed bristles, glabrescent, 

 10 to 11 mm. long, 2 mm. wide, membranous; flower-heads oval. 



Near Bayamon; near Maricao, along roads; near Mayaguez, around the fortress. 

 Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts (Grisebach), Antigua (do.), 

 Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia (Grisebach), St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago, 

 Trinidad. Continental tropical America, tropical Asia, probably introduced. 



A common weed in most parts of the region, naturalized also in many parts of tropical 

 Africa. 



A medicament is made from the roots, leaves, and seeds of Mimosa pudica that is 

 used by the country people. 



Local names, morivivi, morir-vivir, sensitiva. Sensitive plant. 



2. Mimosa ceratonia L. 

 (Urban, 267.) 



Shrub 4 meters high, decumbent or ascending; branches and petioles armed with 

 small recurved prickles; leaflets obovate or orbiculate, 1.5 to 2.5 cm. long, membran- 

 ous, 3-nerved; flower-heads globose, racemose toward the extremities; "while. 



Near Bayamon; near Yabucoa, in mountain woods at Guayabota; near Maunabo, in 

 thickets at Punta de la Tuna; near Mayaguez, on the slopes of Mount Mesa; near Manal i 



