Mimosa texana is a shrub in the Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

 family. It is commonly known as the Texas mimosa, the Texas catclaw or the Wherry mimosa and is endemic to upland

Highland (geography)

The term highland or upland is used to denote any mountainous region or elevated mountainous plateau. Generally speaking, the term upland tends to be used for ranges of hills, typically up to 500-600m, and highland for ranges of low mountains.The Scottish Highlands refers to the mountainous...

 regions of Mexico and Texas. This species used to be classified as Mimosa biuncifera but it was found that phenotypic variations occurred across its range and a new taxonomy was proposed by Rupert C. Barneby in 1986, splitting the species into Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera

Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera

Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera is a shrub in the Fabaceae family. It is commonly known as the catclaw mimosa or the wait-a-minute bush and is endemic to upland regions of Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas...

and Mimosa texana.

Distribution

Texas mimosa is found on alkaline soils in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and Zapata and Starr

Starr County, Texas

Starr County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2010, its population was 60,968. Its county seat is Rio Grande City. The county is named for James Harper Starr, who served as Secretary of the Treasury of the Republic of Texas. It is part of the Rio Grande City-Roma, TX,...

 counties in the state of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. It is uncommon and grows on caliche

Caliche

Caliche may refer to:*Caliche, a hardened deposit of calcium carbonate.*Caliche slang, a collection of slang words unique to Salvadoran Spanish....

and gravelly hillsides.

Description

This species is a straggly, much branched, deciduous shrub of up to two metres tall. It has slender, zigzag, dark coloured twigs clad in backward pointing prickles. The alternate bi-pinnate leaves have medium sized leaflets. The globular flowers are creamy-white and cover the bush in the spring. They are intensely fragrant and attract numerous insects. The seed pods are brick red and flattened, with prickly edges.