Mimosa rubicaulis is a shrub belonging to the family Fabaceae and subfamily Mimosoideae. It is bipinnately compound, each leaf having 8âÂÂ12 pairs of pinnae, each with 16âÂÂ20 pairs of pinnules, unlike Mimosa pudica which has at most two prickly pairs of leaflets. It is found across India.
Mimosa rubicaulis is a large, straggling, very prickly shrub. It flowers from June to September, sporting long clusters of many pink spherical flower heads 1âÂÂ1.5 cm across. The flowers fade to white, so the clusters sport both pink and white flower-heads most of the time. Leaves are double-compound, 8âÂÂ15 cm long, with thorny rachis. Leaves have 3âÂÂ2 pairs of side-stalks, each with 6âÂÂ15 pairs of tiny oblong leaflets 4âÂÂ8 mm. Pods are thin, flat, curved, 8âÂÂ13 cm long, 1 cm wide, breaking into 4âÂÂ10 rectangular single-seeded units, leaving the remains of the pod attached to the shoot.
It is considered useful for hedges. The wood is suitable for tent pegs and for making gunpowder charcoal. Roots and leaves are used medicinally. Himalayan Mimosa is found in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Bhutan, at altitudes of 300âÂÂ1900 m. It prefers forest edges and boundaries of fields and gardens.