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Mimosa diplotricha; photograph (c) 祐, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) 祐, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-26

Mimosa diplotricha C.Wright

Giant sensitive plant; Giant false sensitive plant

Fabaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +25

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Mimosa diplotricha, photograph (c) Jerome Ko, some rights reserved (CC BY)Mimosa diplotricha, photograph (c) Jerome Ko, some rights reserved (CC BY)Mimosa diplotricha, photograph (c) Jerome Ko, some rights reserved (CC BY)Mimosa diplotricha, photograph (c) Jerome Ko, some rights reserved (CC BY)Mimosa diplotricha, photograph (c) 章魚, some rights reserved (CC BY)Mimosa diplotricha, photograph (c) 章魚, some rights reserved (CC BY) 74 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.4°C
Record low 10.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Apr, May, Jun and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,651mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Mimosa diplotricha is a species of leguminous woody shrub native to the Neotropics. It is an invasive species and now has a pantropical distribution. It is commonly known as the giant sensitive plant, giant false sensitive plant, or nila grass.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Mimosa diplotricha", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Mimosa

Mimosa is a genus of about 600 species of herbs and shrubs, in the mimosoid clade of the legume family Fabaceae. Species are native to the Americas, from North Dakota to northern Argentina, and to eastern Africa as well as the Indian subcontinent and Indochina. The generic name is derived from the Greek word μῖμος (mimos), 'actor' or 'mime', and the feminine suffix -osa, 'resembling', suggesting its 'sensitive leaves' which seem to 'mimic conscious life'.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Mimosa", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,075 mm of 1,463 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 3.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,463 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,075 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 219 mm, driest month February at 48 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 851 mm to 2,973 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,651 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,463 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 13.4 °C, the absolute minimum 10.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 17.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 10.1 °C to 23.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.8 °C in April and May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +30 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Mimosa diplotricha through the yearWarmest months April, May, June and August, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 17.9 °C; 1,463 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°41.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 28–40RH 62–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 55 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 20–3028 / 22–3028 / 23–3029 / 25–3229 / 25–3329 / 24–3128 / 23–3129 / 23–3128 / 23–3128 / 23–3127 / 22–3026 / 20–30
Night °C18 / 10–2418 / 11–2419 / 12–2420 / 14–2421 / 15–2422 / 16–2521 / 16–2621 / 16–2621 / 16–2521 / 15–2520 / 13–2419 / 11–24
Rain mm51 / 22–23348 / 10–21855 / 4–23569 / 2–258110 / 6–342190 / 35–358204 / 71–382217 / 57–372219 / 60–407135 / 60–41192 / 18–27273 / 11–226
DLI29 / 23–3535 / 27–3838 / 30–4340 / 27–4840 / 24–5035 / 23–4334 / 25–4034 / 27–3931 / 28–3832 / 27–3731 / 24–3628 / 22–34
RH %64 / 54–6963 / 54–6862 / 52–6762 / 50–6763 / 53–6965 / 58–7066 / 58–7266 / 56–7267 / 57–7266 / 58–7165 / 58–7064 / 56–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 55 grid cells holding the 56 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1450:1759 (17.475, -92.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 55 distinct grid cells holding 56 of the 56 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1450:1759 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 17.50_-91.875, lapse-corrected +30 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 228 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Paraguay · introduced: Togo, Burundi, Gabon, Rwanda, Zaïre, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Comoros, Madagascar, Réunion, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Philippines, Sumatera, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Cook Is., Caroline Is., Hawaii · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker20.028, -97.547 · in the densest population, 49 records (19% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or perennial” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 264 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 56 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 233 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 7411 km away. 1211 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 208 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 264 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Mimosa diplotricha, photograph 1did not loadMimosa diplotricha, photograph 2did not loadMimosa diplotricha, photograph 3did not loadMimosa diplotricha, photograph 4did not loadMimosa diplotricha, photograph 5did not loadMimosa diplotricha, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Jerome Ko, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) 章魚, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Piper amalago Piper amalago Wall Purslane Photo: CC BY, avocatFicus obtusifolia Ficus obtusifolia Amate Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresNectandra hihua Nectandra hihua Shinglewood Photo: CC0, author not statedCentrosema molle Centrosema molle Soft butterfly pea Photo: CC BY, Stella FishChamissoa altissima Chamissoa altissima False chaff flower Photo: CC BY, Rocío Esmeralda PoseCissampelos pareira Cissampelos pareira Velvetleaf Photo: CC BY, Pablo H Capovilla

Other Mimosa 27 in the reference

Mimosa aculeaticarpa Mimosa aculeaticarpa Catclaw mimosa Photo: CC BY, Aarón Misael Carpio DávilaMimosa albida Mimosa albida White mimosa Photo: CC0, author not statedMimosa benthamii Mimosa benthamii Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresMimosa bimucronata Mimosa bimucronata Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, angryphycoMimosa biuncifera Mimosa biuncifera Catclaw Mimosa Photo: CC BY, Jo RobertsMimosa borealis Mimosa borealis Fragrant mimosa Photo: CC BY, RachelMimosa caesalpiniifolia Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Paulo NogueiraMimosa candollei Mimosa candollei Fourvalve mimosa Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezMimosa distachya Mimosa distachya Mexican mimosa Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroMimosa dysocarpa Mimosa dysocarpa Velvetpod mimosa Photo: CC BY, John ThomlinsonMimosa farinosa Mimosa farinosa Fabaceae Photo: CC0, Hugo HulsbergMimosa malacophylla Mimosa malacophylla Softleaf mimosa Photo: CC BY, Cody Hinchliff all 28 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
C.Wright
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +24
Wild records
264 in range · 233 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 31 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (15 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 5 at a herbarium, 11 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 17.50_-91.875, lapse-corrected +30 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 312750-2 is Kew's for Mimosa diplotricha C.Wright
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 117 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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