FAMILY: FABACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: silk tree
LEAVES: deciduous, alternate, even-bipinnately compound; to 12” long by 6” wide; with up to ca. 25 leaflets (pinnae) altogether bearing up to ca. 1000 small subleaflets (pinnules); midribs of subleaflets off-centered
FLOWER: unisexual (staminate) and bisexual; flowers small, organized in dense globose heads which are arranged in racemes or panicles in the axil of the uppermost leaf on current season’s growth; central most flower in a head is bisexual; stamens many, showy pink, thus heads are “powderpuff-like”; flowering in early summer
FRUIT: flat yellowish brown pod (legume), 4-8” long
TWIGS: slender and green with raised light gray lenticels; slightly zigzag pattern; terminal buds absent
BARK: gray to grayish brown, smooth
FORM: small deciduous tree with an ascending trunk and umbrella-like crown
HABITAT: upland forest edges, trail and roadsides, waste areas
RANGE: native to Asia; naturalized throughout much of the southern US
[Global Range Map] [US County Range Map]
USES: ornamental, naturalized throughout much of the South; susceptible to a fungal blight, which enters through roots and destroys sapwood
WILDLIFE: serves pollinators
Best Recognition Features:
- small tree with an ascending trunk, umbrella-like crown, and smooth gray bark
- alternate, even-bipinnately compound leaves with a feathery or lacy look
- off-centered midrib on subleaflets
- showy “puffy” pink flowers in heads
- flat thin-walled pod which often persists on trees
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