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Mimosa texana is a shrub in the
FabaceaeThe Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
family. It is commonly known as the
Texas mimosa, the
Texas catclaw or the
Wherry mimosa and is endemic to
uplandThe term highland or upland is used to denote any mountainous region or elevated mountainous plateau. Generally speaking, the term upland tends to be used for ranges of hills, typically up to 500-600m, and highland for ranges of low mountains.The Scottish Highlands refers to the mountainous...
regions of Mexico and Texas. This species used to be classified as
Mimosa biuncifera but it was found that phenotypic variations occurred across its range and a new taxonomy was proposed by Rupert C. Barneby in 1986, splitting the species into
Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biunciferaMimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera is a shrub in the Fabaceae family. It is commonly known as the catclaw mimosa or the wait-a-minute bush and is endemic to upland regions of Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas...
and
Mimosa texana.
Distribution
Texas mimosa is found on alkaline soils in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and
Zapata and
StarrStarr County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2010, its population was 60,968. Its county seat is Rio Grande City. The county is named for James Harper Starr, who served as Secretary of the Treasury of the Republic of Texas. It is part of the Rio Grande City-Roma, TX,...
counties in the state of
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. It is uncommon and grows on
calicheCaliche may refer to:*Caliche, a hardened deposit of calcium carbonate.*Caliche slang, a collection of slang words unique to Salvadoran Spanish....
and gravelly hillsides.
Description
This species is a straggly, much branched, deciduous shrub of up to two metres tall. It has slender, zigzag, dark coloured twigs clad in backward pointing prickles. The alternate bi-pinnate leaves have medium sized leaflets. The globular flowers are creamy-white and cover the bush in the spring. They are intensely fragrant and attract numerous insects. The seed pods are brick red and flattened, with prickly edges.