Mimosa diplotricha var. diplotricha
Content
Description
A straggling or scrambling woody shrub or semi-woody herb, with branches to 5 m long or more;
Leaves:
Inflorescences consisting of axillary, pedunculate, solitary or paired glomerules, peduncles 0.5-0.6 cm long.
Flowers subsessile, bisexual, tetramerous.
Stamens 8, with pale purple-pink filaments.
Ovary c. 1 mm, inconspicuously puberulous.
Seeds yellow-brown, somewhat glossy, c. 3.5 mm.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Borneo present; Jawa (Jawa present); Lesser Sunda Is. present; Malaya present; New Guinea present; Philippines (Philippines present); Sumatera (Sumatera present), Flores present, Luzon present, Timor present, tropical America present
Tropical America, now introduced to all tropics in Malesia: Malaya, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Philippines (Luzon), Lesser Sunda Islands (Flores, Timor), New Guinea, and probably spreading elsewhere.
Uses
Originally used as a cover-crop in coco- nui: and other plantations and in tobacco-fields. Duration of growth is 1.5 to 2 years (Burkill, l.c.). Introduced to Java about 1909. Competes lalang su xessfully. Recorded as a catde-fodder.
Notes
A serious weed. A portion of the seeds has delayed germination. Germination is also sti mulated by fire, according to Van Steenis (1939, 1940); he reported that seeds in sunburnt tiles of a tennis-court during germination were able to push away fragments of the tiles, creating a tension which resulted in the fragments being thrown 5-20 cni away.
Citation
Fosb. 1968 – In: Phytologia: 496
Merr. 1919 – In: Philipp. J. Sci.: 243
Backer & Bakh. f. 1963 – In: Fl. Java: 561
Verdc. 1979: Manual New Guin. Legum.: 147
Backer 1934: Onkruidfl. Jav. Suiker.: 270
v. Hall 1920 – In: Teysmannia: 293
C.T. White 1940 – In: Queensl. Agric. J.: 1
Colla: Benth. 1983: p. 19. – In: Fl. Nouv.-Caled. et Depend.: pl. 3
Steenis 1940: p. 59. – In: Trop. Natuur: fig.
Nielsen 1983: p. 34. – In: Fl. Camb., Laos, Vietnam: pl. 5: 1-7
Colla: Benth. 1985: p. 152. – In: Fl. Thailand: f. 36
Burkill 1935 – In: Diet. Econ. Prod. Mai. Penins.: 1498
Steenis 1939: p. 191. – In: Trop. Natuur: fig.
Heyne 1927: Nutt. Pl. Ned. Ind., ed. 2: 718