- This is about ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala), for the ipil tree, see Intsia bijuga.
Leucaena,
White Leadtree,
Jumbay, or
White popinac (Leucaena leucocephala
or Leucaena glauca) is a small
MimosoidMimosoideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae characterized by flowers with small petals and numerous prominent stamens...
tropical tree native to
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It is used for a variety of purposes, such as firewood, fiber and livestock feed.
It has been considered for
biomassBiomass, a renewable energy source, is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms, such as wood, waste, and alcohol fuels. Biomass is commonly plant matter grown to generate electricity or produce heat. For example, forest residues , yard clippings and wood chips may be...
production, as its reported yield of foliage corresponds to a dried mass of 2000-20000 kg/ha/year, and that of wood 30-40 m³/ha/year, with up to twice those amounts in favourable climates.
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- This is about ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala), for the ipil tree, see Intsia bijuga.
Leucaena,
White Leadtree,
Jumbay, or
White popinac (Leucaena leucocephala
or Leucaena glauca) is a small
MimosoidMimosoideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae characterized by flowers with small petals and numerous prominent stamens...
tropical tree native to
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It is used for a variety of purposes, such as firewood, fiber and livestock feed.
It has been considered for
biomassBiomass, a renewable energy source, is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms, such as wood, waste, and alcohol fuels. Biomass is commonly plant matter grown to generate electricity or produce heat. For example, forest residues , yard clippings and wood chips may be...
production, as its reported yield of foliage corresponds to a dried mass of 2000-20000 kg/ha/year, and that of wood 30-40 m³/ha/year, with up to twice those amounts in favourable climates. It is also efficient in
nitrogen fixationNitrogen fixation usually refers to the biological process by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia. This process is essential for life because fixed nitrogen is required to biosynthesize a basic building block of life, e.g. nucleotides for DNA and amino acids for proteins...
, at more than 500 kg/ha/year.
During the 1970s and 1980s it was promoted as a "miracle tree" for its multiple uses. It has also been described as a "conflict tree" in that it is both promoted for forage production and spreads like a weed in some places.
One of the drawbacks of this species is its susceptibility to insect infestations. In the 1980s, there was widespread loss in South East Asia due to pest attack by
psyllidsPsyllids or jumping plant lice are small plant-feeding insects that tend to be very "host specific", i.e. they only feed on one plant species or feed on a few related plants...
.
Its seeds contain an
amino acidAmino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and one of the twenty R-groups. These molecules are particularly important in biochemistry, where this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H
2NCHRCOOH, where R is an organic substituent...
mimosineMimosine is an alkaloid, β-3-hydroxy-4 pyridone amino acid. It is a toxic non-protein free amino acid otherwise chemically similar to tyrosine, and was first isolated from Mimosa pudica. In ruminants, mimosine is degraded to 3,4 and 2,3 dihydroxy pyridone . It occurs in a few other Mimosa spp...
known to be toxic to non-
ruminantPhysiologically, a ruminant is a mammal of the order Artiodactyla that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal's first stomach, known as the rumen, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again. The process of rechewing the cud to...
vertebrateVertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with backbones or spinal columns. About 58,000 species of vertebrates have been described. Vertebrata is the largest subphylum of chordates, and contains many familiar groups of large land animals. Vertebrates comprise cyclostomes, bony...
s (Gutteridge and Shelton 1998).
Invasive Properties
Leucaena leucocephala
is highly invasive in arid parts of TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
, the Hawaiian IslandsThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...
, FijiFiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands , is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu. The country comprises an archipelago of about 322 islands, of which 106 are permanently inhabited, and 522 islets...
, and northern AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. It grows quickly, and forms dense thickets which crowd out any native vegetation.
http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&state=&s=&ibra=all&card=T20
Names in other languages
- Hawaiian
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
:
haole koa
or koa haole
(after the similarity of its leaves to those of the endemic koa)
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
: Subabul
IndonesianIndonesian is the official national language of Indonesia. It is based on a version of Classical Malay of the Riau-Johor Sultanate. It was first declared the official language with the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945, following the 1928 unifying-language declaration in the...
: petai cina
JavaneseJavanese language is the language of the people in the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...
: lamtoro
or lamotorogung
LaoLao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Being the primary language of the Lao people, Lao is also an important second language for...
: kathin
MyanmarBurma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. The country is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the...
: Bawzagaing
ThaiThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
: krathin
TagalogFilipino is the national language of the Philippines and, along with English, is an official language; designated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Filipino is an Austronesian language that is based on various existing native languages in the Philippines, with a significant number of Spanish...
:ipil-ipil
, santa-elena
, santaelena
External links
Leucaena leucocephala
Germplasm Resources Information Network, "Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit"
Economics of Subabul Plantation In Hegde, N.G. and Abhyanker, P.D. (eds.) The Greening of Wastelands.
Relwani, L.L. & Hegde, N.G. 1986.