Arizona Wild Flowers
Wildflower Pictures And Photos

Catclaw Mimosa, Mimosa aculeaticarpa biuncifera

Catclaw Mimosa, Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera Photo Taken June 13, 2003 At Date Creek.

Wait A Minute Bush	Mimosa aculeaticarpa biuncifera

Catclaw Mimosa Mimosa aculeaticarpa biuncifera, Bean Family Or Pea Family ( Leguminosae ) ( Fabaceae ), Catclaw Mimosa. Also called Wait-A-Minute Bush, Cat Claw Bush, White Ball Acacia, and Prairie Acacia. The Wait-A-Minute Mimosa bears fragrant, pale pinkish to creamy flowers, in globose heads, in late spring to mid summer. The fruits are curved or straight legumes, 0.8 to 1.5 inch long, 0.12 to 0.16 inch wide, constricted between the seeds. Thicket forming, deciduous shrub, 3 to 8 feet tall ; pubescent stems with single or paired prickles; bipinnately compound leaves with 3 to 9 pairs of pinnae each with 8 to 14 pairs of obtuse, linear to oblong, 0.08 to 0.16 inch long leaflets. Found in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts: USA (southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, western Texas), northern Mexico, in dry soils on mesas and rocky slopes, at 3000 to 6000 feet elevation. This plant is often called Cat Claw, due to its cat-like claws on all of it's branches. The claws are much more dense and more numerous than those of Catclaw Acacia (Acacia gregii), which it sometimes confused. Other distinctions between these two plants are that the Wait-A-Minute has much smaller leaves and leaflets, and is normally a smaller plant. A host plant to the Cecrops eyed silkmoth (Automeris cecrops). Mearns' quail also are associated with this plant. Height: About 3 - 8 feet. Can reach 10 feet. Flowers: White to pinkish small fuzzy spheres; in a tight elongated, showy clusters, 2 to 3 inches long, fragrant, appearing in spring and early summer. Inflorescences, axillary spikes. Blooming Time: April to June. Stems/Trunks : An attractive gray shaggy - rough trunk; pubescent stems with single or paired prickles. Leaves: The leaves are alternate, bipinnately compound leaves with 3 to 9 pairs of pinnae each with 8 to 14 pairs of obtuse, linear to oblong, 0.08 to 0.16 inch long leaflets. Seed Pod: Curved or straight legumes, 0.8 to 1.5 inch long, 0.12 to 0.16 inch wide, constricted between the seeds, brown, maturing in mid to late summer. Elevation: 3000 - 6500 Feet. Habitat: Washes, flats and canyons below 6500', creosote bush scrub, Chapparal, Grasslands, dry habitats, dry soils on mesas and rocky slopes. Found in Yavapai County. Miscellaneous: Flowering Photos Taken At Date Creek. June 13, 2003.