What Is Albizia Julibrissin?
Albizia julibrissin, more commonly known as Mimosa, Persian silk tree or pink silk tree is a small tree of the “pea family” (Fabaceae) that grows wild in Asia from the south-west to the east of the continent.
It is an umbrella-shaped tree that grows 6-10 m tall and wide. It has open foliage, allowing light to pass through and grasses to grow at its base. The bark is almost smooth, ranging in colour from light brown to grey.
The flowers of Albizia julibrissin resemble silk ribbon pom-poms. They smell nice and are pink in colour. The fruits of the species are flat, greyish-brown pods, 12-18 cm long. The pods contain brown oval-shaped seeds.
The leaves of the pink silk tree are fern-like and evenly layered. They can be up to 50 cm long and consist of 40 to 60 leaflets about 6 mm long. It flowers from late spring to early summer, for example from April to June in Nepal.
The seeds ripen between August and September and are mainly dispersed only around their parent tree, but they can be transported further afield by water.