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"Mimosa speciosa" redirects here. As described by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin this refers to the Lebbeck. The Mimosa speciosa of Carl Peter Thunberg, however, is Albizia julibrissin.

Albizia lebbeck
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Subclass:	Rosidae
(unranked):	Eurosids I
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Mimosoideae
Tribe:	Ingeae
Genus:	Albizia
Species:	A. lebbeck
Binomial name
Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth.
Synonyms
Many, see text

Albizia lebbeck is a species of Albizia, native to tropical southern Asia, and widely cultivated and naturalised in other tropical and subtropical regions. English names for it include Lebbeck, Lebbek Tree, Flea Tree, Frywood, Koko and Woman's tongues Tree. The latter name is a play on the sound the seeds make as they rattle inside the pods. Being one of the most widespread and common species of Albizia worldwide, it is often simply called "siris" though this name may refer to any locally common member of the genus.^[1]

It is a tree growing to a height of 18-30 m tall with a trunk 50 cm to 1 m in diameter. The leaves are bipinnate, 7.5–15 cm long, with one to four pairs of pinnae, each pinna with 6–18 leaflets. The flowers are white, with numerous 2.5–3.8 cm long stamens, and very fragrant. The fruit is a pod 15-30 cm long and 2.5-5.0 cm broad, containing six to twelve seeds.^[2]

Uses

Its uses include environmental management, forage, medicine and wood. It is cultivated as a shade tree in North and South America^[3]. In India, the tree is used to produce timber. Wood from Albizia lebbeck has a density of 0.55-0.66 g/cm³ or higher^[4].

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.^[5]

Pharmacology

Lebbeck is used as an astringent, 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^[6]. The bark is used medicinally to treat inflammation^[7]. Albizia lebbeck is also psychoactive^[8].

Taxonomy

The taxonomic history of A. lebbeck is somewhat convoluted. It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus as Mimosa lebbeck. 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 name is occasionally misspelled lebbek.^[9]

Junior synonyms are:^[3]

• Acacia lebbeck (L.) Willd.
• Acacia macrophylla Bunge
• Acacia speciosa (Jacq.) Willd.
• Albizia latifolia B.Boivin
• Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth. var. leucoxylon Hassk.
• Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth. var. pubescens Haines
• Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth. var. rostrata Haines

Albizia rostrata Miq. is Archidendron globosum.

• Feuilleea lebbeck (L.) Kuntze
• Inga borbonica Hassk.
• Inga leucoxylon Hassk.
• Mimosa lebbeck L.
• Mimosa lebbek L. (orth.var.)
• Mimosa sirissa Roxb.
• Mimosa speciosa Jacq.

Mimosa speciosa Thunb. is Albizia julibrissin.

• Pithecellobium splitgerberianum Miq.

There also exists a genus named Lebeckia, in reference to the Lebbeck. It is not closely related to A. lebeck however, but a member of the Faboideae, a different legume subfamily.

Gallery

Trunk; Hodal, Faridabad District, Haryana (India).	from Happy Valley, Maui, Hawaii	Leaves and pods; Hodal, Faridabad District, Haryana (India).	Fruiting habit at West Maui, Hawaii
Albizia lebbeck tree, Fatehpur in Sikar district Rajasthan,India	Albizia lebbeck pods, Fatehpur in Sikar district Rajasthan,India

Footnotes

References

• 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 Papers 134. ISBN 92-5-103955-0 HTML fulltext
• Duke, James A. (2008): Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases - Albizia lebbeck. 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 fulltext
• Rätsch, Christian (2004): Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen, Botanik, Ethnopharmakologie und Anwendungen (7th ed.). AT Verlag. ISBN 3855025703
• 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 Ornitologia 14(3): 285-287 [English with Portuguese abstract]. PDF fulltext
• United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (1994): Germplasm Resources Information Network - Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth.. Version of 1994-AUG-23. Retrieved 2008-MAR-30.

External links

• Albizia lebbeck List of Chemicals (Dr. Duke's Databases)

From Wikispecies

Albizia lebbeck

Taxonavigation

Classification System: APG II (down to family level)

Main Page
Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiospermae
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Fabales
Familia: Fabaceae
Subfamilia: Mimosoideae
Tribus: Ingeae
Genus: Albizia
Species: Albizia lebbeck

Name

Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth.

Vernacular names

Tamil: Vaagai (வாகை)

References

• USDA, NRCS. 2006. The PLANTS Database, 6 March 2006 (http://plants.usda.gov).

Data compiled from various sources by Mark W. Skinner. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

• London Journal of Botany. London 3:87. 1844
• USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. [1]

For more multimedia, look at Albizia lebbeck on Wikimedia Commons.