Sensitive Briar
Mimosa quadrivalvis (also Schrankia nuttallii)
Thorny
Other Common Name:
Catclaw Sensitive Briar; Devil's Shoestrings; Devil's Shoelaces
Family:
Fabaceae (beans)
Description:
Sensitive briar is a trailing or creeping perennial of dry areas, entirely covered by hooked barbs. Flowers in ball-shaped heads on long stalks arising from leaf axils; florets many, funnel-shaped, pink to rose-colored, with yellow-tipped stamens protruding. Blooms May–September. Leaves alternate, double-compound, with 13–15 primary divisions that are again divided into 8–16 tiny leaflets (called pinnules). These small leaflets are sensitive to touch and can fold and close like those of the related mimosa tree. Fruit a slender, very prickly pod to 3½ inches long, splitting lengthwise into four parts when mature.
Size:
Stem length: to 4 feet.
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Sensitive Brier (Catclaw Sensitive Brier) (Leaves)
Sensitive Brier
Sensitive Brier found in Elkland
User submitted photo
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Sensitive briar in Lichen Glade Conservation Area
User submitted photo
Habitat and conservation:
Occurs in glades, upland prairies, savannas, openings of dry upland forests, old fields, ditches, railroads, roadsides, and (rarely) open, disturbed areas.
Distribution in Missouri:
Statewide except northeastern Missouri and Southeast Lowlands.
Human connections:
Rural children learn not to run through prairies barefoot because of the sprawling, scratchy stems of this plant, also called "devil's shoelaces." Sensitive brier is desirable in pastures, providing nutritious food for all kinds of livestock while improving the soil with its nitrogen-fixing ability.
Ecosystem connections:
Quail and other birds eat the seeds, and wild turkey and deer eat the foliage. The flowers produce pollen but no nectar, and a variety of different bees are the primary pollinators. They scrape pollen from the whole head as if it were a single flower.
Similar Species
Purple Prairie Clover
Dalea purpurea (formerly Petalostemon purpureum)
Lead Plant
Amorpha canescens
Mimosa (Silk Tree)
Albizia julibrissin
Ground Plum (Milk Vetch)
Astragalus crassicarpus (formerly A. mexicanus)
Hairy Vetch
Vicia villosa
Prairie Rose (Climbing Rose)
Rosa setigera
Dewberry
Rubus flagellaris
Great Places to See Sensitive Briar
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!