Silk Tree

The silk tree is a fast-growing, low-branching deciduous tree with a spreading, vase-shaped crown of delicate, fern-like bipinnate leaves whose leaflets fold up at night. In early summer it carries fluffy pink pompom flowers made of silky stamens, fragrant and attractive to bees, followed by flat brown pods. It is short-lived and brittle-wooded, and in many regions outside its native range it has become an invasive weed.