Found throughout the southeastern United States along roadsides, woodland edges, in turf, and also most recently as seedlings or sprouts in many no-till crops.
Stems are usually prostrate and creeping.
Each pinnae is then further divided into 10 to 20 pairs of leaflets that are also opposite from one another. With maturity, individual leaflets become tightly compacted to the point that neighboring leaves overlap one another. A creeping perennial that becomes woody and has leaves divided into pinnae and many smaller leaflets. However, with maturity the individual leaflets of mimosa become tightly compacted to the point that neighboring leaves actually overlap one another. This is not the case with the much wider-spaced leaflets of hemp sesbania.