Beautiful salmon-pink, pompom-like flowers have begun to appear on the Albizia julibrissin (Pink Silk Tree) next to the waterfall in Shoyoen, Dubbo Regional Botanic Garden. The flowers which have been likened to the crest of a peacock are not the only unusual thing about this tree. At night and during rain, the leaves slowly close and the leaflets bow downwards earning the tree the Japanese name “nemunoki” – sleeping tree.
When the present Empress of Japan, Empress Michiko was a young girl she was so enthralled by the tree that she wrote a poem about it. This poem was later set to music, a lullaby, to celebrate the birth of the Empress’s second child, Prince Akishinomiya.
Albizia julibrissin is a small deciduous tree which belongs to the Fabaceae family. It is native to south-western and eastern Asia and grows to 5–12 m tall. It has a broad crown of level or arching branches. The bark is dark greenish grey in colour and striped vertically as it gets older. The flower-heads are composed of many small flowers and the clusters of 2-3cm long stamens look like silky threads. The leaves are feathery and from a distance the flowers appear to be floating along the top of the branches. The fruit is a flat brown pod 10–20 cm long and contains several seeds inside.
In traditional Chinese medicine Albizzia jublibrissin (He Huan Hua) is used to nourish the heart and calm the spirit.
Perhaps partly because of its royal connections and certainly because of its distinctive beauty, the tree is highly valued within Shoyoen. Head Gardener Ron Watson still recalls the enormous care taken by the Japanese gardeners from Dubbo’s Sister City Minokamo and Dubbo City Council’s Director Parks & Landcare Services Murray Wood, to plant the tree in exactly the right place and at exactly the right angle.