শিৰিষ

**শিৰিষ** (***Albizia lebbeck)***  ইণ্ডোমালায়া, নিউ গিনি আৰু উত্তৰ অষ্ট্ৰেলিয়াৰ স্থানীয় এলবিজিয়াৰ এবিধ প্ৰজাতি। অন্যান্য গ্রীষ্মমণ্ডলীয় আৰু উপগ্রীষ্মমণ্ডলীয় অঞ্চলত ব্যাপকভাৱে ইয়াৰ খেতি হয়। ইয়াৰ ইংৰাজী নামসমূহৰ ভিতৰত **lebbeck**, **lebbek tree**, **flea tree**, **frywood**, **koko** আৰু **woman's tongues tree** প্ৰধান। The latter name is a play on the sound the seeds make as they rattle inside the pods. Being one of the most widespread and common species of *Albizia* worldwide, it is often simply called **"siris"** though this name may refer to any locally common member of the genus.

It is a tree growing to a height of 18–30 m tall with a trunk 50&nbsp;cm to 1 m in diameter. The leaves are bipinnate, 7.5–15&nbsp;cm long, with one to four pairs of pinnae, each pinna with 6–18 leaflets. The flowers are white, with numerous 2.5–3.8&nbsp;cm long stamens, and very fragrant. The fruit is a pod 15–30&nbsp;cm long and 2.5-5.0&nbsp;cm broad, containing six to twelve seeds.

## Uses

Its uses include environmental management,  forage, medicine and wood.  It is cultivated as a shade tree in North and South America. In India and Pakistan, the tree is used to produce timber. Wood from *Albizia lebbeck* has a density of 0.55-0.66 g/cm3 or higher.

Even where it is not native, some indigenous herbivores are liable to utilize lebbeck as a food resource. For example, the greater rhea (*Rhea americana*) has been observed feeding on it in the cerrado of Brazil.

### Ethnobotany
Lebbeck is an astringent, also used by some cultures to treat boils, cough, to treat the eye, flu, gingivitis, lung problems, pectoral problems, is used as a tonic, and is used to treat abdominal tumors. The bark is used medicinally to treat inflammation. This information was obtained via ethnobotanical records, which are a reference to how a plant is used by indigenous peoples, not verifiable, scientific or medical evaluation of the effectiveness of these claims. *Albizia lebbeck* is also psychoactive. In ancient Tamil culture, the flowers of the lebbeck decorated as a crown were used to welcome victorious soldiers.

## Taxonomy
The taxonomic history of *A. lebbeck* is somewhat convoluted. It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus as *Mimosa lebbeck*. George Bentham placed the species in its present genus, but other authors believed that the plant described by Linnaeus was the related *[[Albizia kalkora]]* as described by Prain (based on the *Mimosa kalkora* of William Roxburgh), and erroneously referred to this species as *Albizia lebbeck*. However, Francisco Manuel Blanco used *Mimosa lebbeck* to refer to *[[Albizia retusa]]* ssp. *retusa*. In addition, the specific epithet is occasionally misspelled *lebbek*.

Junior synonyms are:
* *Acacia lebbeck* (L.) Willd.
* *Acacia macrophylla* Bunge
* *Acacia speciosa* (Jacq.) Willd.
* *Albizia latifolia* B.Boivin
* *Albizia lebbeck* (L.) Benth. var. *leucoxylon* Hassk.
* *Albizia lebbeck* (L.) Benth. var. *pubescens* Haines
* *Albizia lebbeck* (L.) Benth. var. *rostrata* Haines
:*Albizia rostrata* Miq. is *[[Archidendron globosum]]*.
* *Feuilleea lebbeck* (L.) Kuntze
* *Inga borbonica* Hassk.
* *Inga leucoxylon* Hassk.
* *Mimosa lebbeck* L.
* *Mimosa lebbek* L. (orth.var.)
* *Mimosa sirissa* Roxb.
* *Mimosa speciosa* Jacq.
:*Mimosa speciosa* Thunb. is *[[Albizia julibrissin]]*.
* *Pithecellobium splitgerberianum* Miq.

There also exists a genus named *[[Lebeckia]]*, in reference to the lebbeck. It is not closely related to *A. lebeck* however, but a member of the Faboideae, a different legume subfamily.

## Footnotes

## References
*  (1973): *Albizia lebbeck* (L.) Benth.. *In: Flora of Pakistan* (Vol. 36: Mimosaceae). University of Karachi, Karachi. HTML fulltext
*  (1997): Appendix 1 - List of wood densities for tree species from tropical America, Africa, and Asia. *In:* Estimating Biomass and Biomass Change of Tropical Forests: a Primer. *FAO Forestry Papers* **134**. ISBN 92-5-103955-0 HTML fulltext
*  (2008): Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases - ''Albizia lebbeck''. Retrieved 2008-FEB-23.
*  (2005): ''Albizia lebbeck'' (L.) Benth.. Version 10.01, November 2005. Retrieved 2008-MAR-30.
*  (1994): 2.5 Albizia lebbeck - a Promising Forage Tree for Semiarid Regions. *In:* : *Forage Tree Legumes in Tropical Agriculture*. CAB Intemational. HTML fulltext 
*  (2004): *Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen, Botanik, Ethnopharmakologie und Anwendungen* (7th ed.). AT Verlag. ISBN 3-85502-570-3
*  (2006): The fishing rhea: a new food item in the diet of wild greater rheas (*Rhea americana*, Rheidae, Aves). *Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia* **14**(3): 285-287 [English with Portuguese abstract]. PDF fulltext 
*  (1994): Germplasm Resources Information Network - ''Albizia lebbeck'' (L.) Benth.. Version of 1994-AUG-23. Retrieved 2008-MAR-30.

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