Albizia procera

Family

Mimosaceae

Botanical Name

Albizia procera (Roxb.) Benth.

Bentham, G. (1844) Hooker's London Journal of Botany 3: 89. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Mimosa procera Roxb., Pl. Coromandel 2: 12(1799), Type: India, W. Roxburgh, Pl. Coromandel 2: pl.121 (1799), fide I. C. Nielsen, Adansonia, ser. 2, 19: 223 (1979).

Common name

Siris, Forest; Siris, Rain; Rain Siris; Forest Siris; Tee-coma; Tall Albizia

Stem

Usually encountered as a small tree but recorded to 60 cm dbh. Bark paler when viewed from a distance. Deciduous; leafless for a period in the dry season (August-September).

Leaves

A large, elongated, raised gland present on the upper surface of the compound leaf petiole about 5-35 mm from its junction with the twig. Similar, smaller glands present on the upper surface of the secondary axes between the more distant pairs of leaflets. Leaflet blades about 25-50 x 8-30 mm.

Flowers

Flowers +/- sessile. Peduncles about 2 cm long. Staminal filaments about 5 mm long.

Fruit

Pods flat, about 2-3 cm wide. Seeds flat, +/- transversely oriented in the pod.

Seedlings

Cotyledons fleshy, venation absent or indistinct. First pair of leaves dimorphic; one leaf pinnate, the other bipinnate. At the tenth leaf stage: more than 20 leaflets in each compound leaf; leaflet blades about 7-11 mm wide; peg-like glands occur on the petiole of the compound leaf and at its junction with the secondary axes; stipules about 1 mm long, linear and glabrous.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ and southwards as far as coastal central Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 400 m. Most frequently encountered in open forest but also grows on rain forest margins and in monsoon forest and gallery forest. Also occurs in Asia and Malesia.