Mimosa albida

Mimosa albida is a small, sprawling to scandent shrub or subshrub in the Fabaceae family, native to tropical and subtropical Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Stems are slender, often armed with small recurved prickles, and bear bipinnate leaves typical of the genus, with one or two pairs of pinnae each carrying two pairs of relatively large, asymmetric leaflets that are softly hairy beneath. The leaves are sensitive and partially fold when touched, a characteristic shared with many Mimosa species. Small pink to pale lilac flowers are crowded into globose to shortly cylindrical heads on slender axillary peduncles, the long stamens giving the inflorescence a fluffy appearance. The fruit is a flattened, prickly-margined legume that breaks at maturity into one-seeded segments. The species inhabits forest edges, secondary scrub and disturbed ground from sea level to mid elevations across its range.