Samanea saman

Samanea saman, the rain tree or saman, is a large semi-deciduous tree of the legume family (Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae or Mimosoideae depending on classification), native to southern Mexico, Central America, and tropical South America from Colombia and Venezuela southward to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. It has been widely planted throughout the tropics for shade and ornament and has naturalised across South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii. The tree typically reaches 15 to 25 meters in height with a strikingly broad, symmetrical, umbrella-shaped crown that can spread 30 meters or more, supported by a short stout trunk and heavy spreading limbs. The bark is rough and dark grey-brown. Leaves are bipinnately compound with 6 to 16 diamond-shaped leaflets per pinna, 2 to 4 centimeters long, that fold together in rainy weather and at dusk (nyctinasty). Pinkish flower heads, each with about 12 to 25 individual flowers and conspicuous long pink-and-white stamens, are produced in masses across the canopy. The fruit is a curved, leathery, indehiscent pod containing flat oval seeds embedded in sticky edible pulp.