.Mimosa.] l. LEGUMiNO'SiB. (J. G. Bake?;.) 291 



125. laimOSA, Linn. 



Shrubs or herbs, with or without prickles. Leaves in the indigenous species 

 "bipinnate ; leaflets small, sensitive, ligulate, caducous. Flowers minute, in 

 -dense globose heads, polygamous,' in the Indian species mostly tetramerous. 

 (Myx campanulate, shortly toothed. Petals connate towards the base. Stamens 

 -twice the niunber of the petals, much exserted, filaments filiform, free ; anther^ 

 not gland-crested. , Ovary stalked, many-ovuled ; style filiform, stigma minute 

 terminal. Pod flat, membranous, made up of 1-seeded joints that separate 

 when mature from the sutures. — Disirib. Species 230, ;mostly confined to 

 Trop. America. 



1. nx. pudlca, Linn. ; I>C. Prodr. ii. 426; stem and rachises copiously 

 'bristly and prickly, leaves digitate, pod smaU with dgnsely prickly sutures. 

 ■Itoxh. Hort.. Beng. 41 ; Fl. Ind. ii. 664; Wall, Cat. 5292. 



Spread through the hotter parts of India, possibly introduced from Trop. America. 



Shrubby, the copious bristly hairs of the branehlets and petioles deflexed, those 

 ■of the leaf-rachis ascending. Pinnts of the leaves 3-4, nearly sessile, 2-3 in. long ; 

 leaflets 24-40, glabrous, subcoriaceous. Flowers in small peduncled heads, all down 

 -the branches, 1—2 from each axil. Fod ^ in. long, 3-4-seeded, with very abundant 

 /Straw-coloured weak prickles from both sutures, as long as the breadth of the pod; 



2. nX. rubicaulis, Lam. ; DC. Prodr. ii. 429 ; rachises copiously prickly 

 not bristly, leaves bipinnate, pinnse 8-20, pod strap-shaped, the sutm-es mostly 

 without prickles. Wall. Cat. 5289 ; W. ^ A. Prodr. 268 ; Dab. Sf Gibs. Bomb. 

 Fl.m. M. octandra, Boxb. Cor. PI. t. 200; Sort. Being. 41-; Fl. Ind. ii. 564. 

 "M. mutabilis, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 41 ; Fl. Ind. ,loo. cit. M. Rottleri, Spreng, 

 Syst. ii. 206. 



Western HiitAiAYAS, ascending to 5000 ft. in Kumaon, westward to Mishmi and 

 ZBhotan, and through India proper. — Distrib. Afghanistan. 



A low tree, with slender grooved finely grey-downy branches, armed with copious 

 i^mall scattered hooked spines. Leaflets 12-24, membranous, J-J in. -long, rather 

 downy below, not venulose, with an obscure recurved cusp. Heads f-J in. broad, on 

 ■■ jhort simple erecto-patent peduncles, from the leaf axils and crowded at the top of 

 the branehlets, at first reddish, afterwards bleached. Corolla ^^ in. Pod rather 

 : falcate, 3-4 in. by |-| in., 6-10-seeded, the sutures rarely furnished {M. .spinosisi- 

 . Uqua, Eottler) with a few distant prickles. 



3. Ztl. hamata, Willd. ; DC. Prodr. ii. 427 ; rachises copiously prickly 

 .iiot bristly, leaves bipinnate, pinnte 6-8, pod ligulate-oblong with the sutures 

 ■ armed with large hooked prickles. ' W. 8f A. Prodr. 268 ; Dalz. ^ Gibs. Bomb. 



Fl. 85. M. armata, Bottl. ; Sp-eng. Syst. ii. 206 ; Wall. Cat. 5290. 



Westeiin Peninsula. 



Closely allied to M. rubicaulis, with which it agrees in prickles, general habit and 

 'inflorescence. Leaflets 12-20, oblique, ligulate-oblong, ^i in. long, downy or 

 , glabrous. Pof^-rather shorter and broader, downy or glabrous, 4-6;Seeded. 



4. ni, seplarla, Benth. in Hooh. Joum. Bot. iv. 396 ; rachises without 

 either prickles or bristles, leaves bipinnate, pinnse 12-14, pod ligulate with un- 



• armed sutures. 



SiNCAPOKE, SchomhurgJc, Maingay. — Distkib. China. Doubtless introduced into 

 Asia from Trop. America, where it is common. 



A WQody,, shrub, glabrous except the leaf-rachises, which are slightly downy. 

 -Leaflets 12-20, rigidly coriaceous, narrow ligulate, caducous, \-\ in. long, with a 



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