Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_albizia_lebbeck
Lebbeck Tree
Albizia lebbeck
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About Lebbeck Tree
Lebbeck Tree (Albizia lebbeck) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A nitrogen-fixing tree native from the Indian subcontinent to Myanmar and characteristic of seasonally dry tropical vegetation. Flowers provide pollen and nectar to insects, including bees, and durable seed-bearing pods aid spread. The reviewed 2025 Hawaiian vascular-plant checklist records the species as naturalized on Kauaʻi. That status confirms establishment but does not quantify local abundance or ecological impact.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Albizia lebbeck
- Common names
- Lebbeck Tree · Siris · Indian siris · East Indian walnut · Woman's tongue tree
- Other names
- Albizia lebbeck · Lebbeck tree · Siris · Indian siris · East Indian walnut · Woman's tongue tree · Mimosa lebbeck · Acacia lebbeck
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current population size, occupied habitats, reproductive distribution, and degree of ecological impact on Kauaʻi remain unresolved from the reviewed census evidence.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Fragrant many-stamened flower heads are visited by insects and develop into flat pods containing several free-moving seeds. Seeds have a thick water-impermeable coat and physical dormancy; scarification or hot-water treatment improves germination. Kauaʻi-specific flowering, dispersal, and recruitment rates have not been established.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Lebbeck Tree (Albizia lebbeck) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A nitrogen-fixing tree native from the Indian subcontinent to Myanmar and characteristic of seasonally dry tropical vegetation. Flowers provide pollen and nectar to insects, including bees, and durable seed-bearing pods aid spread. The reviewed 2025 Hawaiian vascular-plant checklist records the species as naturalized on Kauaʻi. That status confirms establishment but does not quantify local abundance or ecological impact.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:99109-3
- https://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200011877
- https://plant-directory.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/albizia-lebbeck/
- https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/3609
- https://feedipedia.review.fao.org/node/334
- https://www.fao.org/4/AD226E/AD226E09.htm
- https://doi.org/10.5479/si.32124043
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx