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Common Name: Illinois Bundleflower

Other Names: Prairie Mimosa, Prairie Bundleflower

Species Name: Desmanthus illinoensis

Plant Type: Legume

Family Name: Mimosaceae, Mimosa Family

 

 

 

 

Plant Facts  
Origin Native
Duration Perennial
Distribution in the U.S. Alabama, New Mexico, North to the Dakotas, Minnesota and Ohio
Distribution in Oklahoma Throughout the state

 

 

ID Characteristics

  • Field Identification Characteristics

    Vegetative

    • Pinnately compound leaves with numerous leaflets
    • Leaflets fold when touched
    • Has hair-like gland on branches between the lowest pair of leaflets and stem
    • Tends to have more upright growth than M. quadrivalvis or N. lutea

    Floral

    • Flowers white fuzzy sphere
    • Curved seed pods form a swirled ball-like cluster
  • Leaf and Stem Characteristics
    • Leaf Type: Compound, 2-pinnately 
    • Leaf Arrangement: Alternate 
    • Leaf Shape: Linear or oblong
    • Stipules: Present
  • Floral Characteristics
    • Petal Number: 5, unfused
    • Flower Color: White
    • Flower Timing: June-August
    • Fruit Type: Legumes

 

 

Habitat/Ecology  
Soil Type Various moderately-textured soils; does not tolerate coarse sand or dense clay
Habitat Variety of wet or dry soils in prairies and open woods, borrow ditches
Successional Stage Early to mid

 

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