Distribution and habitat: Native of tropical America (Brazil), naturalized nearly throughout the tropical and sub tropical parts of India, found in Sub-Himalayan tracts, West Bengal, damper districts of Bihar and Orissa, Central India and hot moist localities of southern states

Botany: A prickly under shrub up to 45-90 cm high Stems and rachis clothed with prickles. 

• Leaves: Sensitive, bipinnate; pinnate 1-2 pairs, digitate, 5-7.6 cm; petioles 2.5-5 cm long; stipules 8 mm long, linear-lanceolate, acute; leaflets 20-40, 6-8 by 4 mm, sessile, linear-oblong, acute, glabrous above, clothed with appressed bristles beneath, base obliquely rounded.
• Flowers: 4 merous,  pink in 1-2 globular, axillary heads, 6-8 mm diameter; peduncles 2-2.5 cm long, prickly, usually in axillary pairs all along the      branches. Bracteoles stiff, bristly. Calyx very minute. Corolla pink, 2-2.5 mm long, divided about 1/3 the way down; lobes 4, ovate-oblong, obtuse. Stamen 4-5, anthers not gland-crested.
• Fruit: Pod bristly, less than 2.5 cm by 0.25-0.5 cm, small, flat, straw coloured, jointed, with spreading bristles on sutures. Seeds 3-5.

Properties: Spermicidal, spasmolytic, diuretic

Chemical constituent: Stigmasterol, leucoanthocyanidin, alkaloid-mimosine etc (leaves) D-xylose, D-glucuronic acid (mucilage from the seed); radioactive amino acid mimosine (sap); mimosine-O-β-D-glucoside as the major metabolic product, free amino acids (seeds); D-pinitol, linoleic, oleic, palmitic, stearic and behenic acids (seed oil); β- sitosterol, crocetin dimethyl ester, tannin .

Uses: It is used in leucoderma, vaginal and uterine disorders, ulcers, inflammations, fistula, smallpox, asthma, glandular swellings (leaf paste), sores and piles (leaf juice), hydrocele, scrofula, cuts, wounds, hemorrhages, vesical calculi(internally) and for oedema, rheumatism, myalgia and tumour of the uterus (externally). 

Propagation: Seeds