Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) Facts:
- This is an invasive, deciduous tree that is native to southwestern and eastern Asia.
- It was introduced to the US as an ornamental in the 1700s. It is not spread broadly throughout the eastern US.
- It often invades distributed areas, old fields, roadsides, etc. A small tree that is 10-50 ft tall, often having multiple trucks and a broad canopy.
- Foliage is arranged alternatel and bipinnately compound (6-20 in long), with 20-60 leaflets per leaf. Silk tree leaves have a fern-like or weatherly appearance.
- Flowers in early summer, when very showy, fragrant, pink flowers develop in clusters at the ends of the branches.
- Fruit is a flat, 5in long seed pod that develops in the late summer then turns from green to brown and persists through winter.
- Reproduces by root sprouts and by seed that remain viable for many years.
- Trees can form dense strands.
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