Porosity: diffuse porous
Arrangement: solitary and radial multiples
Vessels: large, few; dark brown colored deposits occasionally present
Parenchyma: vasicentric, lozenge, confluent, and banded (marginal)
Rays: medium to wide; normal spacing
Lookalikes/Substitutes: Appearance is similar to afzelia, another tropical hardwood with similar distribution. In addition to heartwood fluorescence (see notes below), Albizia species tend to have more color variation and striping, as well as being lighter in weight when compared to Afzelia species.
Notes: Albizia stands as one of the few genera with a wide distribution spanning different continents where the heartwood of all species consistently fluoresces under blacklight. (This is in contrast with Afzelia, where the wood is fluorescent much less consistently and not as strongly.) A lack of fluorescence in the heartwood would generally rule out Albizia.