Prairie Mimosa (Illinois Bundleflower)

Desmanthus illinoensis

Flowers form whitish spheres about 5/8 inch acdross; the flowers are actually tiny ones near the center of the sphere, each of which has five exerted stamens of about 1/4 inch, which together form the sphere.  Leaves are doubly pinnate; each compound leaf made up of ten or more pairs of what appear to be leaflets, but each leaflet is itself a compound leaf of many small leaflets, each about 1/4 inch long.

After blooming, curved seed pods form which cluster together to make a rough sphere (see picture at lower left).

2-4 feet, sun - partial sun.

Summer (June-August).

21 July 2020.

Prairie Mimosa, 13 July 2020.

Seed pod clusters.

16 August 2020.