Giant sensitive tree (Mimosa pigra)

Giant sensitive tree (Mimosa pigra) is a species of Mimosa in Fabaceae that forms dense shrubs, woody, thorny and widely spread throughout the tropics, especially in wet areas. These legumes have a height of up to 6 m, the stem is greenish in young plants but becomes brown wood when the plant is enlarged.

M. pigra is armed with spines up to 7 mm long on the trunk, bright green leaves and bipinnate where smaller spines stand in the middle 20 to 25 cm long with 5 cm pinnae lengths to 16 pairs, each divided into pairs for lengths of 3 to 8 mm. The leaves fold when touched and the night comes.

Pink flowers 1 cm in diameter. Each flower head produces a group of 10 to 20 seed pods which then break into hairy segments and each contains seeds. Mature seeds are light brown to brown, hard and can remain idle for at least 23 years in sandy soil.

Giant sensitive trees germinate throughout the year on moist soil but do not flood and most germination at the beginning and end of the rainy season. Seedling growth is very fast and flowering after 4 to 12 months. The process from flower buds to mature seeds takes about five weeks.

Kingdom: Plantae
- : Angiosperms
- : Eudicots
- : Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
- : Mimosoid clade
Genus: Mimosa
Species: M. pigra

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