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Mystery Volunteer

Posted by phasv2 Zone 7 (My Page) on
Thu, May 24, 12 at 10:59

I had a strange plant pop up in my yard this year, and I figured maybe you guys could help me out.

This plant is spreading along the ground, and the stem is woody right where it is coming out of the ground. It has complex leaflets, and I'm not sure if I'm using the terminology correctly, but I mean that the stems have little stems coming off of them that are covered in neat little leaflets. At first I thought it was some kind of fern, but then it started pushing up separate stems with a spiky little ball on the end of them, and in the course of a few days, all of those little spikes starting opening up into little flowers about an eighth of an inch long. They apparently pollinated, because now the plant has slightly curved seedpods growing up from the plant that kind of resemble claws, and some of them are already two inches long.
The leaflets fold up at night and during the day when the sun is hitting it directly. The little plant is growing in a little area that is shaded for most of the day.

Check out the link.

https://plus.google.com/photos/117282842100242133881/albums/5746113950 065575777


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Mystery Volunteer

It looks like a type of Mimosa (not the tree that is non-native and has the common name mimosa).

What area of the country are you in?

Here is a link that might be useful: Mimosa


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RE: Mystery Volunteer

My mom also thought that it looked like mimosa.
I live in Texas, just north of Fort Worth.

Thanks for the link!


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RE: Mystery Volunteer

Just wanted to let you know that I have now successfully ID'ed this plant, and it is desmanthus leptolobus, or the Slenderlobe Bundleflower. It apparently normally occurs a couple of counties west of me, but somehow made it here. I assume a bird was involved. :-)


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RE: Mystery Volunteer

Great - thanks for the update!


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