Albizia julibrissin (persian silk tree)  is a small  tree growing to 5 – 12 m tall, with a broad crown of level or arching branches. The bark is dark greenish grey in colour and striped vertically as it gets older.

The leaves are tripinnate, 20 – 45 cm long and 12 – 25 cm broad, divided into 6 – 12 pairs of pinnae, each with 20 – 30 pairs of leaflets; the leaflets are oblong, 1 – 1.5 cm long and 2 – 4 mm broad.

The flowers are produced throughout the summer in dense inflorescences, the individual flowers with no petals but a tight cluster of stamens 2 – 3 cm long, white or pink with a white base, looking like silky threads.