Fragrant Mimosa would like your
attention, please!
Bill Hopkins
As you are walking through a field you might happen
to notice Fragrant Mimosa because of its beautiful
pink blossoms. Or maybe its sweet scent will get your
attention. If not it might just “grab you” with its claws as
you brush past it.
Fragrant Mimosa is a deciduous, small shrub, 3 by 3 feet,
with somewhat zigzag, rigid branches with small, delicate
pinnately compound leaves. The soft pink puffballs are a
contrast to the sneaky, strongly recurved thorns up and
down the branches.
Fragrant Mimosa (Mimosa borealis) is also known as Pink,
Catclaw and Sensitive Mimosa. The genus name Mimosa
is from the Latin mimus “mime” plus the adjectival suffix
osa, presumably because some species fold their leaves
when touched, seeming to mimic animal behavior.
Borealis refers to its northward range.
In spite of its prickly nature, similar to many plants in
the brush country, Fragrant Mimosa is not native to deep
South Texas. It is more commonly found in the brushy
and gravelly limestone areas north of San Antonio and up
into Kansas and Colorado and west into New Mexico. It
is an infrequent visitor into the Plains Country.
The compound leaves of the plant, a member of the
Fabaceae (Pea Family), share a similarity to the leaves of
many other members of the family, including mesquite
and acacias. Each Pink Mimosa leaf is composed of a
stem, which may branch 3 or 4 times, with as many as 6
pairs of tiny leaflets on each branched stem.
Pink Mimosa grows in a variety of soils including rocky
limestone soils, caliche, sandy loams and clay loams. It
is both cold and heat tolerant and requires little or no
supplemental water after it is established. It can grow in
full sun and in part shade, but it will probably produce
more blooms in full sun.
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