Mimosa rubicaulis

Mimosa rubicaulis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Mimosoideae
Genus:	Mimosa
Species:	M. rubicaulis
Binomial name
Mimosa rubicaulis Lam.

Mimosa rubicaulis is a shrub belonging to Fabaceae and subfamily Mimosoideae. It is bipinnately compound, each leaf having 8-12 pairs of pinnae, each with 16-20 pairs of pinnules,^[1] unlike Mimosa pudica which has at most two prickly pairs of leaflets. It is found across India.^[2]

It is a large straggling shrub which is very prickly. It sports long clusters of many pink spherical flower-heads which are 1-1.5 cm across. The flowers fade to white - so, at any time the clusters sport both pink and white flower-heads. Leaves are double-compound, 8–15 cm long, with thorny rachis. Leaves have 3-12 pairs of side-stalks, each with 6-15 pairs of tiny oblong leaflets 4–8 mm. Pods are thin, flat, curved, 8–13 cm long, 1 cm wide, breaking into 4-10 rectangular 1-seeded units, leaving the remains of the pod attached to the shoot. It is considered useful for hedges. The wood is suitable for tent pegs and for making gunpowder charcoal. Roots and leaves are used medicinally. Himalayan Mimosa is found in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Bhutan, at altitudes of 300–1900 m. Flowering: June–September.

References

1. ^ Plants and people of Nepal. http://books.google.com/books?id=klAFeYz4YdYC&pg=PA320&lpg=PA320&dq=Mimosa+rubicaulis+bipinnate&source=bl&ots=QiTF6QIlOG&sig=oUMU5g05nJi1_WnPVGLz9k1dCCs&hl=en&ei=CiQKTdmPA8q2hQfOncjMDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CC8Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
2. ^ "Mimosa.rubicaulis". JStor Plant Science. http://plants.jstor.org/taxon/use/Mimosa.rubicaulis. 

External links

• [http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Himalayan%20Mimosa.html

http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Himalayan%20Mimosa.html "Himalayan Mimosa"]. Flowers of India.net. http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Himalayan%20Mimosa.html http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Himalayan%20Mimosa.html.