''Mimosa somnians'', commonly known as dormideira, is a species of woody shrub in the genus ''

Mimosa ''Mimosa'' is a genus of about 600 species of herbs and shrubs, in the mimosoid clade of the legume family Fabaceae. Species are native to the Americas, from North Dakota to northern Argentina, and to eastern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, and ...

'' and the family

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

. It is native to the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. It is a short, low-lying shrub with minuscule thorns lining its stem-like hairs. ''Mimosa somnians'' is notable for exhibiting rapid plant movement. Its leaves are sensitive to tactile stimulus, folding quickly when touched, similar to '' Mimosa pudica''. It can be differentiated from ''Mimosa pudica'' in that its leaves are bipinnate, there are more than four subbranchlets and these originate from more than one point on the branch. ''Mimosa somnians'' leaflets are 4–5 mm long. The flowers form pink balls. It propagates by seeds.

Forms, subspecies and varieties

*''Mimosa somnians f. viscida'' *''Mimosa somnians'' subsp. ''longipes '' *''Mimosa somnians'' subsp. ''viscida'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''aquatica'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''deminuta'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''diminuta'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''glandulosa'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''lasiocarpa'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''leptocaulis'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''longipes'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''lupulina'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''possensis'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''somnians'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''velascoensis'' *''Mimosa somnians'' var. ''viscida''

Uses

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, it is used to calm down irritable children via washing.

Chemical constituents

''Mimosa somnians'' contains (whole plant) about 0.029%

tryptamine Tryptamine is an indolamine metabolite of the essential amino acid tryptophan. The chemical structure is defined by an indole—a fused benzene and pyrrole ring, and a 2-aminoethyl group at the second carbon (third aromatic atom, with the firs ...

and about 0.029% methyltryptamine.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13933651 Medicinal plants of South America somnians Taxa named by Aimé Bonpland Taxa named by Alexander von Humboldt