Mimosa is such a beautiful tree. I remember one in my grandmother’s yard in southern Oklahoma, and an amazing grove of them in southcentral Kansas. It is also called silk tree, sensitive plant, or the happiness plant. When you touch the undersides of the leaves, they will actually fold up and together away from your touch.

We use the flowers and bark of this plant to make tea or (my preferred) tincture. The tincture is a gorgeous light green that reminds me of uranium glass. Albizia has mild sedative, antioxidant, antidepressant, and neuroprotective properties. It has a way of gently uplifting your spirit and putting a little spring in your step. Traditionally it is used for anxiety and depression and is mild enough to be used even for children and elders. It is considered safe for pregnant women, although it does ‘invigorate the blood’, so use caution.

The flowers can be used for a simple tea, but if using the bark, let it soak for about 20 minutes, then bring to a vigorous boil (covered) in a non-metallic pan. Note: Corningware Visions cookware (which is glass with lids) can be found occasionally at thrift stores. If you are an herbalist, or have an herbalist friend, snatch them up for presents!

Unfortunately, mimosa is toxic to cattle (the seed pods are the most poisonous part to them) and are considered invasive in some parts of the country. I have only seen them south of mid-Kansas, and none at higher elevations.

I think for the next few weeks, I am going to focus on plants that are considered a nuisance or invasive. Many of these plants have lots of nutritional value and are great herbal allies. I would encourage you to really look and try to identify the plants around you that are ‘weeds’. I know in my area, we have lots of wild lettuce (Lactuca villosa) which is fabulous for pain, dandelions (Taraxacum officinalis) which is high in nutrition and minerals, and goatheads (Tribulus terrestris) which is a very good male tonic. And you thought they were just ‘weeds’ – and not even the good kind!