Albizia julibrissin

Plant Characteristics

Habit		tree
Height:	⇕	20 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 20. to 40 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 40.
Width:	⇔	15 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15. to 20 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 20.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Origin:	✈	Iran to Japan
Bloom:	❀	early summer, mid summer, late summer

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Water:	◍	moderate, dry
Features:	✓	deciduous, flowers, invasive
USDA Zones:		8 to 12
Sunset Zones:		4-23, 26-33
Flower features:	❀	red, pink

Scientific Names

Fabaceae >

Albizia >

julibrissin >

Albizia julibrissin is a small deciduous tree growing to 5–12 m tall, with a broad crown of level or arching branches. The bark is dark greenish grey in colour and striped vertically as it gets older. The leaves are bipinnate, 20–45 cm long and 12–25 cm broad, divided into 6–12 pairs of pinnae, each with 20–30 pairs of leaflets; the leaflets are oblong, 1–1.5 cm long and 2–4 mm broad. The flowers are produced throughout the summer in dense inflorescences, the individual flowers with no petals but a tight cluster of stamens 2–3 cm long, white or pink with a white base, looking like silky threads. They have been observed to be attractive to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. The fruit is a flat brown pod 10–20 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad, containing several seeds inside.

Cultivation

Propagation

Seed, but the hard seat coat requires scarification before germination can occur. Nick the seed with a file, soak it in sulfuric acid, or plunge it into boiling water.

Pests and diseases

Wilt disease.

Varieties

There are two varieties:

• Albizia julibrissin var. julibrissin. The typical variety, described above.
• Albizia julibrissin var. mollis. Differs in the shoots being densely hairy.

There is also a form, Albizia julibrissin f. rosea which has, in the past, been classed either as a variety or as a cultivar. This is a smaller tree, only growing to 5–7 m tall, with the flowers always pink. Native to the northeast of the species' range in Korea and northern China, it is more cold-tolerant than the typical form, surviving temperatures down to at least -25 °C.

Gallery

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  f. rosea

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  leaves, flowers and buds

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  f. rosea

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References

• w:Albizia julibrissin. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Albizia julibrissin QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)