Albizia julibrissin seeds

Albizia Lankaran, or Silk Acacia / Albizia julibrissin - is a species of trees of the Albizia genus of the Legume family. It has a spreading, umbrella-shaped crown. The height of the tree is 6-9 meters. The width of the tree is 6-7 meters. The leaves are doubly pinnate, lacy, consist of 9-14 lobes, each of which contains 15-30 pairs of leaflets sitting on a secondary petiole. The color of the leaves is light green. The leaf length reaches 20 centimeters.

In hot weather and at night, the leaves fold along the midrib, and the entire compound leaf droops. Albizia sheds its leaves in winter. Blooms in July-August. The flowers are collected in corymbose panicles. The flowers are yellowish-white and have 5-ray symmetry. The stamens are long and pink. The fruits of Albizia are flat multi-seeded brownish beans 10-20 cm long. The tree grows quickly and lives 50-100 years. Used for growing Bonsai.
 
The following Russian names for the plant are found: Lankaran acacia, silk acacia, silk bush. The first part of the scientific name - Albizia - comes from the name of the Florentine Filippo del Albizzi (Italian: Albizzi), who introduced this plant to Europe in the 18th century. The specific epithet - julibrissin - is a corruption of gul-i abrisham, which in Farsi means “silk flower” (from gul - “flower”, abrisham - “silk”).

Albizia Lankaran is a plant of a dry, warm climate. Its frost resistance down to minus 10C is known.

Albizia is light-loving; it cannot grow in the shade of other trees.

Albizia blooms late, in mid-May, when almost all the trees have already blossomed. Its flowering is abundant and long-lasting - it begins in mid-June and lasts until September-October, depending on the weather. In autumn, it retains its leaves for a very long time (sometimes until the end of November). Albizia remain green until the last moment.

Lenkoran acacia reproduces by seeds, which require stratification. Seeds are sown from February to July. In the literature, it is recommended to carry out “hot” stratification: for this, the seeds are soaked for 5-6 hours in hot water (+60C), after which they are sown. Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in hot water (the temperature should be such that the hand can tolerate it) for 2 hours. Large seeds can be lightly filed on one side first. Then they are sown to a depth of 3 mm and placed in a greenhouse or warm place with a temperature of 20-25C. When the seedlings grow up, they are planted in 7.5 cm pots.

You can use the usual “cold” stratification, for which in the southern regions, seeds are planted in winter - directly into the ground. When sowing in autumn, seed germination in spring is about 80%, and single seeds can sprout within a year.

In winter, Albizia seedlings are kept at a temperature of +5C. When the threat of frost has passed, the plants are planted at a distance of 2 m from each other in a sunny area protected from the wind.

In the first year, Albizia seedlings grow slowly and by autumn they rarely reach a height of 20 cm. You cannot feed them at this time - you can burn the roots of young plants. In addition, with an excess of nitrogen fertilizers, the growing season of plants is delayed, and the wood of seedlings may not ripen well by winter. Then, in the event of severe frosts, such plants can be severely damaged or even die. You can start feeding albizia seedlings from the second year of life, gradually increasing the dosage.

Albizia soil needs to be light, rich, and well-drained.

A good honey plant. Albizia bark was used to dye wool and silk brown and yellow. Dense wood with a beautiful pattern is well polished.