The Persian Silk Tree (Albizia julibrissin) is a species of legume in the genus Albizia, native to southern and eastern Asia, from Iran east to China and Korea.
The genus is named after the Italian nobleman Filippo del Albizzi, who introduced it to Europe in the mid 18th century, and it is sometimes incorrectly spelled "Albizzia". The specific name julibrissin is a corruption of the Persian word Gul-i Abrisham (گل ابریشم) which means the silk flower ("Gul" گل m ...
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 tripinnate, 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 peta ...
