Falcataria moluccana – Moluccan Albizia

Falcataria moluccana - Moluccan Albizia, Molucca Albizia, Peacocksplume, Batai, Bataiwood, Moluccan Sau (blooming tree)

Falcataria moluccana - Moluccan Albizia, Molucca Albizia, Peacocksplume, Batai, Bataiwood, Moluccan Sau (yellow flowers)

Falcataria moluccana - Moluccan Albizia, Molucca Albizia, Peacocksplume, Batai, Bataiwood, Moluccan Sau (white flowers)

Falcataria moluccana - Moluccan Albizia, Molucca Albizia, Peacocksplume, Batai, Bataiwood, Moluccan Sau (leaf)

Falcataria moluccana - Moluccan Albizia, Molucca Albizia, Peacocksplume, Batai, Bataiwood, Moluccan Sau (bark)

Falcataria moluccana - Moluccan Albizia, Molucca Albizia, Peacocksplume, Batai, Bataiwood, Moluccan Sau

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Falcataria moluccana

Synonyms: Adenanthera falcataria, Albizia falcata, A. falcataria, A. moluccana, Paraserianthes falcataria

Common Names: Moluccan Albizia, Molucca Albizia, Peacocksplume, Batai, Bataiwood, Moluccan Sau

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Tree

Hawaii Native Status: Introduced. This naturalized wood and agroforestry tree is native to Indonesia (the Moluccas), Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.

Flower Color: Creamy white, light yellow to greenish yellow

Height: Up to 130 feet (40 m) tall

Description: The flowers have numerous brushlike stamens and are in panicles at the branch tips. The flowers are followed by flat, green ripening to brown, strap-shaped bean pods with brown, disk-shaped seeds. The leaves are large, alternate, dotted with extrafloral nectaries (nectar glands), and bipinnate with small, green, elliptic, somewhat sickle-shaped leaflets. The bark is smooth to slightly warty and grayish cream in color, while the younger branches are greenish to reddish brown. The trees quickly grow to be very large and have a gracefully branched, wide-spreading form. The wood is light and brittle, and falling branches are a real hazard, especially since these huge trees can have branches that are themselves the size of an average-sized tree. Removal of these large, damage-prone trees can be very expensive.

Here in Hawaii, Moluccan Albizia grows mainly in wet to mesic (moderately wet) lowland areas, where it can be quite weedy and invasive. These fast-growing trees can be used for wood, nitrogen soil enrichment, and as high shade for coffee plantations.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae – Pea family
Genus: Falcataria (I.C. Nielsen) Barneby & Grimes – peacocksplume
Species: Falcataria moluccana (Miq.) Barneby & Grimes – peacocksplume

More About This Plant

Hawaii County Distribution Map