■ 【Fruiting-88】
In late December, the silk tree still had green leaves, and seed-filled pods were hanging from its branches.
■ The silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) is a deciduous tall tree belonging to the legume family (Fabaceae).
■ It is well known for its “sleep movement,” in which the small leaflets close and droop at night. This leaf-“sleeping” behavior is the origin of the name Nemunoki (silk tree).
■ It grows in mountains and along riverbanks from the Tohoku region southward, and produces beautiful flowers from the end of the rainy season through summer.
■ It leafs out in late spring (late April to early May), blooms in summer (June–July) with beautiful flowers bearing long pink stamens, and in autumn the pods mature; the seeds are then dispersed during winter.
■ A characteristic feature of its leaf fall is that the entire compound leaf does not drop at once; instead, the small leaflets fall separately. The photo on the right shows leaves that were slow to fall.
■ Even after leaf fall, long, slender bean-like pods remain on the branches, as shown in the photo.
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