White Siris

Albizia procera

Bengali: Koroi, Hindi: Safed/Doon Siris

A tall light-crowned tree, usually without branched up to quite a height, with pale yellow bark. Not common in Kolkata

Bark: Creamy yellow, often tinged with green. Marked with horizontal ridges or wavy lines

Leaf: Twice feathered, about 40 cm long with 2-6 side stalks each with 6-16 pairs blunt large leaflets which are bright green above and paler below.

Flower: Small yellowish-white powder-puffs, 12-20 clustered together to form a “head”.

Fruit: Flat pods 6-8’’ long and 1’’ wide brown when ripe

Season: The flowers appear from May to September. The tree is seldom quite leafless, leaves are renewed in the hot season, at which time the pods ripen and fall.

Range/habitat: Native to moist and swampy place mostly in the lower hills of the Himalayas, and in many of the dryer parts of India including some districts of Bengal. It is not a native of the country round Kolkata.

Where to Find: There is one tree near Ruby “more”, Kolkata beside the service road that run parallel to the bypass GPS: 22.512303, 88.40148 (see the google street view image)