Albizia saman (Jacq.) F.Muell.

FLORA OF MADAGASCAR
Albizia saman (Jacq.) F. Mueller
SW Madagascar, Toliara (Tulear) Province, just
before the bridge over the Sakondry River, c. 35 km
SE of Andranovory on Route Nationale 10.
Map Ref.: 23°22'S 44°20'E
Grazed scrubland and open woodland with
Tamarindus, Acacia sakalava & A. bellula etc, on
sandy, red-lateritic soil.
Alt. 125 m
Large tree c. 15-20 m tall, with low-branching trunk
c. 80 cm in diameter. Bark red-brown, becoming
grey, vertically fissured and flaking off in thick
plates. Bark slash chestnut brown, wood white.
Leaves with (3)4(5) pairs of pinnae; each with 3-7
pairs of leaflets (apical pinnae and apical leaflets
largest), with a green crater gland between at least
the lowest pair of pinnae. Leaflets mid-green, glossy
above, paler beneath, ± coriaceous. Flower heads in
terminal clusters; heads very attractive, 7-8 cm in
diameter, slightly honey scented, with a mass of
cerise-pink stamens. Calyx 4.5 mm long, green, on a
short pedicel subtended by a green caducous bract.
Corolla c< 10 mm long (exserted 5 mm), with a
cerise tube and pale-brown spreading lobes.
Stamens 35-40 mm long, erect, (fused for c. 4 mm),
white in the basal half, the upper half cerise pink;
anthers minute, blackish. Central flower of head
very different; calyx broader, 11 mm long; corolla
19 mm long; stamen tube with numerous white
staminodes and shorter fertile stamens, fused into a
thick tube and spreading out above the corolla. Pods
fallen, ± compressed but stickily fleshy inside,
blackish with a pubescent ridge along each margin,
indehiscent. Seeds c. 7 mm long, oblong, chestnut.
VERNACULAR NAME: “Basimena”
D.J. & B.P. Du Puy & P. Ravonjiarisoa
29.1.89	Mill
04793241