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Mimosa scabrella Benth.
Syn.: Mimosa bracatinga
Mimosaceae
Bracatinga
Source: James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops. unpublished.
- Uses
- Folk Medicine
- Chemistry
- Description
- Germplasm
- Distribution
- Ecology
- Cultivation
- Harvesting
- Yields and Economics
- Energy
- Biotic Factors
- References
Regarded as a useful living fence post or ornamental avenue tree. Useful for
reforestation. It sheds copious leaves forming a good humus. Makes an
excellent fuel wood. Though its pulp is inferior to Eucalyptus saligna
it is promising for printing and writing papers (fibers average 1.11.2 mm
long). Used for coffee shade in Guatemala, where Standley and Steyermark
(1946) say, "The coffee plantations shaded by bracatinga are very handsome, for
the trees are uniform in height, their crowns far above the coffee bushes...
The bracatinga has been much advertised in tropical America in recent years as
a tree suitable for reforestation...until better trees could take its place."
No data available.
I find no data on this species. Mimosa hostilis reportedly contains the
hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine, and is used in making a beverage which
translates "Wine of Jurema." Interestingly, this species is called catinga
instead of bracatinga.
Unarmed tree to 15 m tall, 40 cm in diameter, with sparse broad crown, the
trunk branching shortly above the base; bark whitish, young branchlets
lepidote. Leaves bipinnate; the pinnae mostly 57 pairs; leaflets 2535 pairs,
oblong-linear, obtuse, stellate, subterminal peduncles ca 1.5 cm long, the
heads about 7.5 mm in diameter. Sepals glabrous, ca 1.2 mm long. Corolla
4-lobed, stellate tomentose, ca 3.5 mm long. Stamens 4. Pods sessile,
oblong-linear, obtuse, verrucose-tomentose 2025 x 56 mm 24-jointed. Seeds
castaneous, 34 mm long.
Reported from the South American Center of Diversity, bracatinga, or cvs
thereof, is reported not to tolerate wet soils which tend to stunt its growth.
Native to the cool subtropical Parana plains of Southeastern Brazil although
Standley and Steyermark (1946) have reported its introduction into Guatemala.
Small plots have been established in Argentina, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala,
Jamaica, Mexico, Portugal, El Salvador, Senegal, Spain, Venezuela, and Zaire.
Estimated to range from Tropical to Subtropical Moist Forest Life Zones. Grows
in many types of well-drained soils. Grows at 2,400 m in Guatemala.
Easily planted by seed, 34 seed sown in depressions 34 cm deep. Spaced at
23 m. Readily cultivates in plantations, even at exceptionally close spacings
(NAS, 1979).
Some plantations have been harvested on rotations of only 3 years.
May attain 15 m tall in 3 years, 89 m in 2 years, and 5 m in 14 months.
Before the advent of the diesel, bracatinga was grown to fuel Brazilian
railroads. Although the plant is reported to fix nitrogen, Allen and Allen
(1981) do not cite it as a nodulated species.
Agriculture Handbook No. 165 lists the following diseases for Mimosa
spp.: Cylindrosporium sp. (leaf spot), Lipocystis caesalpiniae
(rust), Meliola bicornis and Meliola denticulata (black mildew),
Phymatotrichum omni-vorum (root rot), Ramularia mimosae (leaf
spot), Ravenelia dysocarpae (rust), and Ravenelia fragrans
(rust). Golden (p.c. 1984) reports the nematode Meloidogyne incognita
acrita.
-
Agriculture Handbook 165. 1960. Index of plant diseases in the United States.
USGPO. Washington.
- Allen, O.N. and Allen, E.K. 1981. The Leguminosae. The University of Wisconsin
Press. 812 p.
- N.A.S. 1979. Tropical legumes: resources for the future. National Academy of
Sciences, Washington, DC.
- Standley, P.C. and Steyermark, J.A. 1946. Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany
24(V):502 pp.
Complete list of references for Duke, Handbook of Energy Crops
Last update Wednesday, January 7, 1998 by aw