Albitsiat – Albizia

Leaves are bipinnate; pinnae opposite or subopposite. Leaflets are opposite. Inflorescences are axillary, round heads, spikes or spiciform racemes, pedunculate, solitary or much more often clustered, often aggregated near the ends of branchlets. Flowers are bisexualor occasionally male. 1-2 central flowers in each head are frequently larger, different in form from the others. Both sepals and petals are united or partly united, and both calyx and corolla have 5 teeth or lobes. Corolla is funnel-shaped or campanulate. Stamens are numerous (19-50), showy and prominent, with filaments united in their lower part into a slender tube. Fruit is an oblong, straight, flat, dehiscent or indehiscent legume. Seeds are usually more or less flattened.

Albizia is a pantropical genus.

Trees, sometimes shrubs.

Albizias occur in lowland or low-montane seasonally dry riparian forest, rainforests, woodland, wooded grassland, bushland and thicket, often in secondary forests. Like most legumes, Albizias fix nitrogen.

Albizias are mostly propagated from seeds.

Albizias are important multipurpose trees. They are cultivated for timber, livestock fodder, medicine, and firewood. Bark yields e.g. tannins, dyes, and fish poisons. The trunk of some species yields gum that is used as an adulterant of gum arabic. Many species are grown as street and plantation shade trees and for reforestation and soil conservation. Species with showy flowers are popular ornamentals. Flowers are a good nectar source for honeybees and butterflies. Because of their nitrogen fixing ability and multiple uses, Albizias are often grown in agroforestry systems.

Genus Albizia consists of 120-140 species, which can be differentiated from Acacia species from their stamens which are joined at the bases. Well known species include A. julibrissin and A. lebbeck.

Keywords:

Ornamental, timber, shade, animal feed, gum, dye, tannin, medicine, poison, bee forage, fuel, soil conservation, nitrogen fixing, Fabaceae.