159. Mimosa albida: leaf seen from vertically above.
interesting peculiarities. It consists of a long petiole bearing only two
pinnae (here represented as rather more divergent than is usual), each with
two pairs of leaflets. But the inner
* Mr. Thiselton Dyer informs us that this Peruvian plant (which was sent to
us from Kew) is considered by Mr. Bentham ('Trans. Linn. Soc.,' vol. xxx.
p. 390) to be "the species or variety which most commonly represents the M.
sensitiva of our gardens."
[page 380]
basal leaflets are greatly reduced in size, owing probably to the want of
space for their full development, so that they may be considered as almost
rudimentary. They vary somewhat in size, and both occasionally disappear,
or only one. Nevertheless, they are not in the least rudimentary in
function, for they are sensitive, extremely heliotropic, circumnutate at
nearly the same rate as the fully developed leaflets, and assume when
asleep exactly the same position. With M. pudica the inner leaflets at the
base and between the pinnae are likewise much shortened and obliquely
truncated; this fact was well seen in some seedlings of M.
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