Mimosa or Formosa? That is the question!

I have been struggling with a "faux pas" of sorts since last night. I have been calling my neighbor's tree a "formosa tree" all along. I was quickly corrected by my scramping cronies (I love those gals!) that it is pronounced: MIMOSA. I stood corrected - last night. Today, however, I am standing "uncorrected", I think. I went to my reliable online sources: Google and Dictionary.com to find out the difference. This is what they told me.

So girls, here is the scoop:

Dictionary.com said:

Word Origin & History Formosa:
old name of Taiwan, given by Portuguese, from Port. Formosa insula "beautiful island," from fem. of L. formosus "beautiful."

mi·mo·sa  –noun (mi-moh-suh, -zuh)
1. any of numerous plants, shrubs, or trees belonging to the genus Mimosa, of the legume family, native to tropical or warm regions, having small flowers in globular heads or cylindrical spikes and often sensitive leaves.

Google question/answer: "What is a formosa tree?"

What is the difference between a mimosa tree and formosa tree?

They are one in the same.

This response on Yahoo came from someone named "Frosty" - I know what you're thinking - they had too much of the funny stuff when they were younger. But here's their take anyway:

"One of my father’s favorite trees was one he called a "Formosa," a tree I learned in college was correctly called Mimosa. In the arrogance only educated youth can possess, I assumed dad had mixed up the names in the war years of the 1940s when the Nationalist Chinese were taking refuge from Chairman Mao’s communists on "Formosa" - known today as Taiwan. Now I know that "Formosa" is the Portuguese word for "beautiful", and quite possibly this name was one of the colloquial names used for the tree we call Mimosa. "

So. . . . with all that being said, or written, or thought, I want to believe in my Formosa trees. I don't want to think the only thing that comes from Formosa is Formica! I AM Scarred.

Perhaps if I try really, really hard, I can merge the two? Whatcha' think? No? Hmm. . . .

Could you chew on it for a while, and get back to me?

Discuss it perhaps over dinner?

Maybe just humor me - yea, I think that one will work!

Case settled!

Whew, what a relief. Now I can rest at nights.

Did I mention I love those gals!