MIM08ACEAE. 



169 



1. Leucaena glauca (L.) 

 Benth. Jumbie Bean. Wild 

 Mimosa. Acacia. (Fig. 189.) 

 A small tree, sometimes 30° tall, 

 with spreading branches and to- 

 mentose twigs. Leaves 4'-12' 

 long, with 6-20 pinnae; leaflets 

 20-40, narrowly oblong to lanceo- 

 late, 3"-6" long, acute ; peduncles 

 tomentose ; heads globose, about 

 10" in diameter; calyx obconic, 

 i" long; petals linear-oblong or 

 linear-spatulate, erect, pubescent; 

 stamens nearly thrice as long as 

 the petals; pods 4-6' long, acute 

 at both ends. [Mimosa glauca 

 L. ; Acacia paniculata of Jones 

 and of Hemsley can only be this 

 species.] 



Common in neglected grounds. 

 Naturalized from tropical America. 

 Naturalized in the southei'n United 

 States. Flowers nearly throughout 

 the year. Locally a pestiferous 

 weed. Its seeds, strung on thread, 

 are made into necklaces. 



2. ACUAN Medic. 

 Perennial herbs or shrubs, with bipinnate leaves, small stipules, and 

 greenish or whitish small regular flowers in axillary peduncled heads or spikes. 

 Flowers perfect, sessile, or the lowest sometimes staminate, neutral or apetalous. 

 Calyx campanulate, its teeth short. Petals valvate, distinct, or slightly united 

 or coherent below. Stamens 10 or 5, distinct, mainly exserted ; anthers all 

 alike. Ovary nearly sessile; ovules oo. Pod linear, straight or curved, acute, 

 flat, several-seeded, 2-valved, the valves coriaceous or membranous. About 10 

 species, natives of warm and tropical America, one widely distributed in 

 tropical regions of the Old World, the following typical. 



1. Acuan virgatum (L.) Medic. 

 Virgate Mimosa. (Fig. 190.) Shrubby, 

 sparingly loosely pubescent or glabrous, 

 2°-6° high, slender, branching. Leaves 

 2'-6' long, short-petioled; pinnae 3 or 4 

 pairs; an oblong sessile gland just be- 

 low the lowest pair; leaflets numerous, 

 thin, narrowly oblong, sessile, obtuse, 6" 

 long or less, 1"-1J" wide, the midvein 

 near the upper margin; flower-heads 

 globose, slender-peduncled ; flowers about 

 1" wide; stamens 10; pods 1^-3' long, 

 about 2" wide, pointed. [Mimosa rirgata 

 L. ; Desmanthns virgaUis Willd. ; Dcsmo- 

 dium virgatum of Lefroy.] 



Abundant in fields lietween Castle Har- 

 bor and Harrington Sound, and along the 

 South Shore Iload in Devonshire. Recorded 

 by Reade from Somerset Dndge. Native. 

 Flowers from spring to summer. West 

 Indies and tropical .America. Its seeds 

 probably transported to Bermuda by birds. 



