Albizia lebbeck is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar.[1][2] It is widely cultivated and naturalised in other tropical and subtropical regions, including Australia. Common names in English include siris, Indian siris, East Indian walnut, Broome raintree, lebbeck, lebbek tree, frywood, koko and woman's tongue tree.[3] The latter name is a play on the sound the seeds make as they rattle inside the pods. Siris is also a common name of the genus Albizia.
It is a tree growing to a height of 18–30m (59–98ft) tall with a trunk .5 to 1m (1ft 8in to 3ft 3in) in diameter. The leaves are bipinnate, 7.5–15cm (3–6in) long, with one to four pairs of pinnae, each pinna with 6–18 leaflets. The flowers are white, with numerous 2.5–3.8cm (1.0–1.5in) long stamens, and very fragrant. The fruit is a pod15–30cm (6–12in) long and 2.5–5.0cm (1–2in) broad, containing six to twelve seeds.[4]
Habitat
Albizia lebbeck is found in a wide range of climates. The variety can be semi-desert, to humid regions.[5] It can last in long cold winters, as well as very dry climate.[6]A. lebbeck is a drought-tolerant tree that can be found throughout the tropics. This plant is native to Asia and is a very invasive species. Due to its ability to adapt to a broad spectrum of climates, this species has become very invasive. It has spread to different tropical regions throughout the world as invasive species.[7]
Albizia is named after Francesco Albizzi, an Italian naturalist. It is also commonly referred to as siris, its Hindi name.[8]
In the West Indies and certain parts of South America this tree is known as a 'Shak Shak Tree' because of the sound the seeds make in the pod.[citation needed]
Uses
Its uses include environmental management, forage, medicine and wood. It is cultivated as a shade tree in North and South America.[9] In India and Pakistan, the tree is used to produce timber. Wood from Albizia lebbeck has a density of 0.55-0.66 g/cm3 or higher.[10]
Bark on a tree in Hong Kong
Even where it is not native, some indigenous herbivores are liable to utilize lebbeck as a food resource. For example, the greater rhea (Rhea americana) has been observed feeding on it in the cerrado of Brazil.[11]
Ethnobotany
Lebbeck is an astringent, also used by some cultures to treat boils, cough, to treat the eye, flu, gingivitis, lung problems, pectoral problems, is used as a tonic, and is used to treat abdominal tumors.[12] The bark is used medicinally to treat inflammation.[13] This information was obtained via ethnobotanical records, which are a reference to how a plant is used by indigenous peoples, not verifiable, scientific or medical evaluation of the effectiveness of these claims. Albizia lebbeck is also psychoactive. It is also very effective in migraine. All parts of the plant are useful, such as the leaves, root, and stem.[14] The flowers of the plant are traditionally used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat insomnia.[14]
Taxonomy
The taxonomic history of A. lebbeck is somewhat convoluted. It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus as Mimosa lebbeck. In its original description the Mimosa lebbeck was a large Acacia tree that grew in Egypt.[15]George Bentham placed the species in its present genus, but other authors believed that the plant described by Linnaeus was the related Albizia kalkora as described by Prain (based on the Mimosa kalkora of William Roxburgh), and erroneously referred to this species as Albizia lebbeck. However, Francisco Manuel Blanco used Mimosa lebbeck to refer to Albizia retusa ssp. retusa. In addition, the specific epithet is occasionally misspelled lebbek.[16]
Independently, there also exists a genus named Lebeckia, whose range is restricted to South Africa. It is also a legume, but a member of the Faboideae, a different legume subfamily.
↑ Lowry, J.B. & Seebeck, J. 1997 "The Potential for Tropical Agroforestry in Wood and Animal Feed Production". Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Indooroopilly, Queensland
↑ Book: Voyages and Travels in the Levant in the Years 1749, 50, 51, 52, Containing Observations in Natural History, by Fredrik Hasselquist (died 1752), written originally in the Swedish language, published in 1757 by Carl Linnaeus (died 1778), published in English translation in 1766. It says Mimosa Lebbeck is a large Acacia tree of southern Egypt and is grown in northern Egypt in gardens. This botany item was also copied by Linnaeus into Linnaeus's own botany book.
Ali, S.I. (1973): Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth.. In: Flora of Pakistan (Vol. 36: Mimosaceae). University of Karachi, Karachi. HTML fulltext
Brown, Sandra (1997): Appendix 1 - List of wood densities for tree species from tropical America, Africa, and Asia. In: Estimating Biomass and Biomass Change of Tropical Forests: a Primer. FAO Forestry Papers134. ISBN92-5-103955-0HTML fulltext
Duke, James A. (2008): Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases - Albizia lebbeck[dead link]. Retrieved 2008-FEB-23.
International Legume Database & Information Service (ILDIS) (2005): Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth.. Version 10.01, November 2005. Retrieved 2008-MAR-30.
Lowry, J.B.; Prinsen, J.H. & Burrows, D.M. (1994): 2.5 Albizia lebbeck - a Promising Forage Tree for Semiarid Regions. In:Gutteridge, Ross C. & Shelton, H. Max (eds.): Forage Tree Legumes in Tropical Agriculture. CAB Intemational. HTML fulltextArchived 2007-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
Schetini de Azevedo, Cristiano; Penha Tinoco, Herlandes; Bosco Ferraz, João & Young, Robert John (2006): The fishing rhea: a new food item in the diet of wild greater rheas (Rhea americana, Rheidae, Aves). Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia14(3): 285-287 [English with Portuguese abstract]. PDF fulltext
Further reading
Rätsch, Christian (2004): Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen, Botanik, Ethnopharmakologie und Anwendungen (7th ed.). AT Verlag. ISBN3-85502-570-3
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