Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera
Wait-A-Minute-Bush
Family: Fabaceae
Large, cat-claw thorned, deciduous shrub growing up to about 6’ high and wide. Often prevalent in overgrazed areas creating impenetrable thicket. May through August usually white (sometimes light pinkish) catkin flowers appear followed by legume seed pods.
Full to part sun, moderate to low water when established, hardy to 0°F.
Pods of this plant can be ground into a meal.
Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera on iNaturalist
Photo by Max Licher, SEINET
Very nectar rich flowers used by numerous pollinators, especially bees. Moth larval food plant for the cecrops eyed silkmoth (Automeris cecrops), geometer moths (family Geometridae), the mystifying black witch moth (Ascalapha odorata), the bizarre mesquite clearwing moth (Carmenta prosopis), various bagworm moths (family Psychidae). Butterfly larval food plant for the reakirt’s blue (Echinargus isola) and the mimosa yellow sulfur (Pyrisitia nise). This is an important browse plant where it lives. Its prevalence in overgrazed areas is due to its pallatability to cows. In the wild it is an important browse plant for many animals. Quail love the seeds. Many animals find shelter under its protective, thorny expanse, including the quail.
The genus name Mimosa is from modern Latin, apparently from Latin mimus ‘mime’—because famous members of this genus have leaves that respond to touch with movement, seemingly mimicing the sensitivity of an animal. The species name aculeaticarpa basically translates to very spiny, and biuncifera refers to the spines being paired. There are 628 species native to the Americas, from North Dakota to northern Argentina, and to eastern Africa as well as the Indian subcontinent and Indochina.
Grows in thickets on hills and canyon slopes and along washes from 3,000-6,000 ft. in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, south into southern Mexico.