Plant profile: Mother’s tongue (Albizia lebbeck)

Mothers Tongue. Illustration by Pauline Goldsmith.

The flowering tree can grow up to 30 metres tall and has been used in medicine.

The Albizia lebbeck, or mother’s tongue, is a flowering tree native to Indomalaya, New Guinea and northern Australia. It can grow up to 30 metres tall, with a trunk that’s 50 centimetres to one metre in diameter.

Its bipinnate leaves are dense and dark green, while its flowers are round, fluffy, pale yellow and produced in abundance during the early summer.

Large pods, each containing six to 12 seeds, develop following the growth of the flowers. The rattle of the pods in the wind is what gained the tree its alternative name, mother’s tongue.

As Albizia is an astringent, some cultures use it to treat boils, coughs, flu and lung ­problems. The bark can also be used to treat inflammation.

It’s an ideal tree to grow in the UAE thanks to its high level of salt tolerance and drought resistance. Propagation is easy and can be done from seeds.