304 CALYCIFLOU/E. 



side of the Island. I am not aware that the seeds have been 

 applied to any use, except to make a very indifferent kind of 

 snuff-box. They are frequently to be met with along the sea- 

 shore, being washed down during rains by the mountain streams. 

 They are also sometimes carried out to sea, and falling into the 

 Gulf-stream, are thrown on the northern coasts of Europe. 

 Thus they have, as mentioned by Sir Hans Sloane in No. 222 

 of the Philosophical Transactions, been frequently picked up 

 on the shores of the Hebrides and Orkneys. 



XXXV. MIMOSA. 



Flowers polygamous. Petals 4-5, united into a 4- 

 5-fid subinfimdibuliform corolla. Stamens inserted on 

 the bottom of the corolla or stipe of the ovary, equal- 

 ling the divisions of the corolla in number or double 

 or triple. Legume compresso-plane, 1 co -jointed ; 

 joints 1 -seeded; costs; persistent. De Cand. 



Named, from /i/^og a buffoon; the leaves as if playfully 

 shrinking, when touched. 



1. Mimosa viva. Lesser Sensitive-plant. 

 Unarmed herbaceous, leaves conjugato-pinnated, 

 pinnae 4-paired, leaflets subrotund, legume of 1 joint. 



M. herbacea non spinosa minima repens, Sloane, II. 58. t. 

 182. f. 7. M. minima herbacea vix tripollicaris capsulis mono- 

 spermis hirsutis, Broivne, 254. M. viva, Willd. Sp. PI. IV. 

 1028. 



HAB. Pastures of East Prospect Estate, St Thomas in 

 the East. 



FL. Throughout the year. 



Stem herbaceous, diffuse, rooting, about 2 inches in height. 

 Peduncles axillary, of the same length as the leaves, solitary, 

 bearing a head of small flowers, in only one of which is the 

 legume perfected. 



This small plant grows in patches, densely covering the 

 ground for several feet in extent. It is perhaps the most sen- 

 sitive of its kind, its leaves affected even by the breeze, 

 and instantly collapsing on being touched, so that you may 

 write your name on a bed of it, by means of a stick drawn 

 lightly over the surface, and the letters will remain legible for 

 several minutes. 



2. Mimosa pudica. Common Sensitive-plant. 

 Stem herbaceous prickly hairy, leaves subdigitato- 

 pinnated, pinna? 4, leaflets multi-jugate linear. 

 JVilld. Sp. PI. IV. 1031. Bot. Rep. 544. 



