''Mimosa rubicaulis'' is a shrub belonging to the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

and subfamily

Mimosoideae The Mimosoideae are a traditional subfamily of trees, herbs, lianas, and shrubs in the pea family (Fabaceae) that mostly grow in tropical and subtropical climates. They are typically characterized by having radially symmetric flowers, with petal ...

. It is bipinnately compound, each leaf having 8–12 pairs of pinnae, each with 16–20 pairs of pinnules, unlike '' Mimosa pudica'' which has at most two prickly pairs of leaflets. It is found across

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Description

''Mimosa rubicaulis'' is a large, straggling, very prickly shrub. It flowers from June to September, sporting long clusters of many pink spherical flower heads 1–1.5 cm across. The flowers fade to white, so the clusters sport both pink and white flower-heads most of the time. Leaves are double-compound, 8–15 cm long, with thorny

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the ''rachi ...

. Leaves have 3–2 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 single-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 The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, at altitudes of 300–1900 m. It prefers forest edges and boundaries of fields and gardens.

References

External links

* * rubicaulis Flora of Nepal Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck {{Mimosoideae-stub