English name: leucaena, Jumpy-bean, wild tamarind, lead tree, white popinac, white leadtree, horse tamarind
Scientific name:Leucaena leucocephala (L. glauca)
Country of origin: North America (United States), Latin America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Mexico), Europe (Spain)
Description
It is an evergreen shrub or middiel tree with height of 3–20 m and trunk diameter of 10–50 cm. The leaves are bipinnate compound leaves with 6-9 pairs of pinnae and 11-23 pairs of leaflets per pinna. The leaves and folioles close due to heat, cold, or lack of water. Throughout the year, flowers and immature or ripe pods can be simultaneous seen in a single shrub. Flowers are self-fertile, and seeds are mostly obtained by self-pollination. Deep-rooted species. Has strong xerotolerance, such as being able to grow in areas with annual precipitation of 650–3,000 mm. However, it has poor cold tolerance, and areas with daytime temperature of 10°C is considered to be the cultivation limit. It has strong fire resistance and the ability to regenerate from fire and food damage is also high. After receiving damage by pest or disease, it produces gum similar to gum arabic. Among the woody plants of family Fabaceae, it has moderate shade tolerance. It is vulnerable to phosphorus and calcium deficiency. Propagation is performed by seeding.
In agroforestry, it has been planted for light shielding, green manure, erosion prevention, and crop pillars. In addition, the firewood creates high-quality charcoal that does not emit ash or smoke. It is also used for hedges. Because the leaves, pods, and seeds contain a toxic amino acid (mimosine), only small quantities are suitable for edible use. Except for Australia, Papua New Guinea, etc. others regions have used as animal feed because there are microorganisms that can detoxify mimosine in the rumen of ruminants.
Because it has long life, the leaves and pods have high nutritional value as animal feed, and it has many uses such as food, green manure, and firewood, from the 1970s to the early 1980s, it was known as a "miracle tree." It was introduced to various places around the world for a while, but because it destroys native plant species, currently, it is listed as an exclusive invasive plant as part of 100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species, created by the conservation committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
References
Orwa, C., Mutua, A. , Kindt, R., Jamnadass, R. and Simons, A. 2009. Agroforestree
Database: a tree reference and selection guide. version 4.0 (http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sites/treedbs/treedatabases.asp)
Shelton, H. M. and Brewbaker, J. L. 1994. Leucaena leucocephala - the most widely used forage tree legume. In: Gutteridge, R. C. and Shelton, H. M. (eds). Forage Tree Legumes in Tropical Agriculture. CAB International, Wallingford, U.K. pp.15-30. (http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Publicat/Gutt-shel/x5556e00.htm#Contents)
Wu, D. and Nielsen, I.C. 2010. Tribe Mimmoseae. Flora of China 10: 50-54.
(http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=20825)
