The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Mimosa pigra
Also called Catclaw Mimosa, Thorny Sensitive Plant, Black Mimosa, Bashfulplant, Giant Sensitive Tree, Sensitive Plant, Africa Sensitive Plant
Mimosa pigra is a thorny, woody shrub from tropical America that has become a serious invasive weed across the tropics, forming dense, impenetrable thickets in wet areas. It is grown outdoors in warm climates rather than as a houseplant, and it is best kept out of gardens.
Mimosa pigra, commonly known as the giant sensitive tree (pigra = lazy, slow), is a species of plant of the genus Mimosa, in the family Fabaceae.
The genus Mimosa (Mimosaceae) contains 400–450 species, most of which are native to South America. M. pigra is a woody shrub native to tropical America but which has now become widespread throughout the tropics. It has been listed as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species and forms dense, thorny, impenetrable thickets, particularly in wet areas.
Mimosa pigra is native to tropical America, where it occurs in a wide belt extending from Mexico through Central America to Northern Argentina.
Mimosa andina · Giant false sensitive plant · Mimosa ophthalmocentra · Sensitive Plant · Mimosa somnians · Mimosa tenuiflora · Mimosa verrucosa · Sensitive plant
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mimosa pigra by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
