Leucaena pulverulenta (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Leucaena pulverulenta (Schldl.) Benth.

Family: Leguminosae - Mimosoideae

Vernacular names

• Chalky leucaena, giant ipil-ipil (En).

Distribution

Originating from Mexico, now introduced and occasionally cultivated in tropical Asia and Africa. It arrived in Indonesia in 1900.

Uses

L. pulverulenta is grown as a shade tree in coffee plantations, as a green manure and as fuelwood. It is also used as a fodder crop, lower in mimosine content than L. leucocephala (Lamk) de Wit.

Observations

• Shrub or bush-like tree up to 12 m tall. Young parts white pubescent.
• Leaves with 10-20 pairs of pinnae; leaflets 15-30 pairs per pinna, linear, 2-6 mm long.
• Inflorescence an oblong glomerule, 1-2 cm in diameter.
• Flowers densely white strigose.
• Pod flat, 10-27 cm × 1.5-2 cm.

L. pulverulenta is found in West Java around Bandung at about 700 m altitude. It hybridizes with L. leucocephala and is used in breeding programmes.

Selected sources

• Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950-. Series 1. Volume 1, 4-. Kluwer, Dordrecht & Flora Malesiana Foundation, Leiden, the Netherlands.
• Huxley, A., Griffiths, M. & Levy, M., 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening. 4 volumes. MacMillan, London, United Kingdom.
• National Research Council, 1984. Leucaena: promising forage and tree crop for the tropics. 2nd Edition. Innovations in tropical reforestation. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., United States. 100 pp.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen