The silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) is a deciduous tree that grows from 10 to 50 feet tall. It can have one or more trunks and the canopy is shaped like an umbrella. The bark is light brown to gray and has lenticels that look like corky dots. The wood is weak and brittle and the doubly compound leaves alternate on the stem. The leaves are 6 to 20 inches in length and are almost fern-like and feathery in appearance. There can be 20 to 60 leaflets on one compound leaf with each being .5 inches long. The sweetly fragrant light to dark pink, flowers are showy and wispy; and one of the major reasons for its importation as an ornamental plant. The 6-inch seed pods are flat and linear and contain 5-10 light brown oval seeds within. They split to release the seeds and the empty pods remain on the trees throughout winter.
Zones 6-9 - Bare Root 12-18" Tall
