About Mimosa texana (A.Gray) Small
Mimosa texana is a straggly, many-branched deciduous shrub that grows up to two metres tall. It has slender, zigzag, dark-colored twigs that bear backward-curved prickles just below leaf nodes. Its leaves are alternate and bipinnate; each leaf typically holds 1 to 5 pairs of pinnae, and each pinna has 3 to 9 pairs of leaflets. Its flowers are globular in shape, and their color ranges from creamy-white to deep pink. This species typically reaches peak bloom in April each year, but it can bloom after rain at any point between March and September. The fragrant flowers attract large numbers of insects. Its flattened, brick red seedpods have prickly edges, and they are usually produced from May through October. This species grows on alkaline soil, occurring in northeastern Mexico, and in Texas across the southern Trans-Pecos, the Edwards Plateau, and south Texas near Zapata and Starr counties. It is an uncommon plant that grows on caliche and gravelly hillsides.
