Mimosa. LEGUMINOS.^. 399 



SoBOEDER II. MIMOSE.E. R. Br. 



Sepals and petals valvatc in sestivation, regular; the latter hypo- 

 gynous, distinct or more or less united. Stamens as many as tho 

 petals or very numerous (5-200), hypogynous or inserted into the 

 base of the corolla. Embryo straight. — Leaves abruptly pinnate or 

 bipinnate. Flowers most frequently polygamous. 



60. ALGAROBIA. DC. (§ of Prosopis) ; Bcnlh. ^l. Hartw. p. 13. 



Flowers polygamous. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5, distinct, usually 

 villous inside or at tlie extremity. Stamens 10, distinct : anthers not lipped 

 •with a gland. Ovary villous: style filiform, arcuate: stigma truncate. 

 Legume continuous, compressed, linear, pulpy within, often torulose, or 

 somewhat intercepted between the seeds, indehiscent, many-seeded. — 

 Shrubs or trees, usually with axillary spines above the stipules. Leaves 

 often fasci' ".'hI, bipinnate; the pinna; 1-4 pairs; the leaflets numerous. 

 Spikes eloij-af. d, 1-3 together in the axils of the leaves, or from very short 

 branches. Flowers greenish or yellowish. 



1. A. glandulosa : spines elongated, often geminate; leaves glabrous; 

 pinnae a single pair, glandular at their origin ; leaflets 7-15 pairs, rather 

 distant, linear, elongated, coriaceous, reticulated, often somewhat falcate ; 

 spikes solitary or geminate, slender, shorter tlian llie leaves. — Prosopis glan 

 dulosa, Torr. ! in mm. lye. New York, 2. p. 192, t. 2. 



On the Canadian River, Dr. .lames! Texas, Drummond! — A small shrub, 

 often decumbent, glabrous. Spines straight, an inch or more in length. 

 Stipules miniUe. Common petioles terminated by a spinular point : a small 

 gland between the (somewliat glandular) bases of the pinnre. Leaflets 

 i-1 inch or more in length, obtuse, mucronulate. Legume about 6 inches 

 long, straight, or a little curved, slightly compressed, filled with pulp — 

 The pods were used for food by Major Long's party. 



61. MIMOSA. Adans.; Go'rtn. fr. t. 3U ; IVilld. spec j>. 1028. 



Flowers polygamous (perfect and staminate). Calyx usually minute, 

 somewhat urceolate, 4-5-toothed or nearly entire. Petals united into 

 an infundibulifonn or turbinate-campanulate 4-5-cleft corolla. Stamens 

 equal in number with tlie petals, or twice or thrice as many (4-15), inserted 

 into the base of the corolla or on the stalk of the ovary, much exserted, dis- 

 tinct or slighdy monadelphous at the base. Legume much compressed, 

 composed of one or more dry 1-seeded joints, which are at length separable 

 and dehiscent, leaving a persistent entire border or replum. — Herbaceous, or 

 mostly shrubby plants or trees, with bipinnate or conjugate-digitate leaves, 

 which are often sensitive to the touch, frequently prickly. Stipules often 

 striate. Flowers rose-color or white, in spherical or oval heads: peduncles 

 axillary. 



1, M. strigillcsa : nearly unanned, herbaceous; stems prostrate, difTuse ; 



