Mī-mō'să or Mī-mō'sā, n.

(Synop., § 130), n. [Gr. μῖμος, imitator.] (Bot.) A genus of leguminous plants, containing many species, and including the sensitive plant (M. sensitiva, or M. pudica);—so called from its imitating the sensibility of animal life, or from the great variety of appearance presented by the different species.

The term mimosa is also applied in commerce to the bark of different species of mimosa imported from Australia, and used in tanning, and also called wattle bark. Tomlinson.