Leucaena, Lead Tree, White Tamarind
Leucaena leucocephala

Family: Fabaceae

What it is like

Leucaena leucocephala or commonly known as Leucaena, Lead Tree, or White Tamarind is a fast-growing, evergreen shrub or tree with a height of up to 20m. A native to southern Mexico and northern Central America, it has an open, rounded crown and short bole of up to 50 cm in diameter. It is highly tolerant to drought mainly because of its extensive root system. It is also planted to prevent soil erosion and as a shade plant for plantation crops. The fine divided leaves of some cultivars may contain mimosene, an amino acid that may be harmful if consumed at large quantity. Young leaves, pods, and flower buds are edible and usually eaten raw, steamed or mixed in soups or with rice. The seeds can also be eaten either raw or cooked, or dried then used as coffee substitute. The plant also yields edible gum used in sauces. Roasted seeds can moisturize skin while decoction of bark and root may cause abortion. The wood is commonly used for its fiber, mainly to make paper. It also makes an excellent firewood and charcoal. Aside from the above mentioned uses of Leucaena, it also makes great animal feed especially for ruminants. It has also been considered for biomass production.

Leucaena leucocephala is an evergreen Tree growing to 10 m (32ft) by 10 m (32ft) at a fast rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10. The plant is self-fertile. It can fix Nitrogen. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid, very alkaline and saline soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.

Height (m): 10

Where it is found

Dry coastal regions, waste ground.

Central America, north to Mexico.

Conservation Status: This taxon has not yet been assessed

Countries/locations it is found in

Mexico; Guatemala; Belize; El Salvador; Honduras; Colombia; Costa Rica, Africa, Andamans, Angola, Argentina, Asia, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Central America, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, East Africa, East Timor, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial-Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, French Guiana, Ghana, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Hawaii, Hispaniola, Honduras, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Africa, North America, Northeastern India, Pacific, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Sahel, Samoa, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, SE Asia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad, Tuvalu, Uganda, USA, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Africa, West Indies, Yemen, Zimbabwe,

How it is used

Food

Rating: 3

Young leaves, pods and flower buds - raw, steamed, in soups, with rice or mixed with chillies and other spices. Some caution is advised - see the notes above on toxicity. Seeds - raw or cooked. The unripe seeds are mixed with grated coconut, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked. The mature, but not dried, seeds are eaten raw or cooked as a delicacy. Dried seeds are fermented into tempeh lamtoro and dageh lamtoro. The dried seed can be roasted and used as a coffee substitute. An edible gum obtained from the plant is used in sauces.

Seed: includes nuts, cereals, peas and beans.

Seedpod: things such as Okra, French and Runner beans.

Coffee: the various substitutes that can be used instead of coffee.

Drink: not including plant saps, tea or coffee substitutes.

Gum: can be chewed as a chewing gum or can often be used as a sweetener or thickening agent in foods.

Medicine

Rating: 2

The roasted seeds are emollient. A decoction of the root and bark is abortifacient.

Abortifacient: Causes an abortion.

Emollient: Softens the skin, causing warmth and moisture.

Other

Rating: 4

Other Uses Gum arises from the stems under ill-defined conditions of injury and disease or from sterile hybrids, especially Leucaena leucocephala x Leucaena esculenta. The gum has been analysed and found similar to gum arabic, and of potential commercial value. Red, brown and black dyes are extracted from the pods, leaves and bark. The dried seeds are widely used for ornamentation. The heartwoos is a ight reddish-brown; the sapwood pale yellow. It is medium textured, close grained. The wood is strong, hard and heavy (about 800 kg/m), of medium density. It is easily workable for a wide variety of carpentry purposes and dries without splitting or checking. Sawn timber, mine props, furniture and parquet flooring are among increasingly popular uses. However, the use of L. Leucocephala for sawn timber is greatly limited by its generally small dimensions (usually not greater than 30cm diameter), its branchiness, which limits lengths of clear bole available and means wood is often knotty, and its high proportion of juvenile wood. Nevertheless, there is growing use of small-dimension sawn wood in a number of industries such as flooring, which might include L. Leucocephala in the future. Poles are used to prop bananas and as a support for yams, pepper and other vines. Use of short-rotation L. Leucocephala for poles is limited by their lack of durability and susceptibility to attack by termites and woodborers. The wood is commonly pulped for its fibre, used to make paper. The fibre values are similar to those of other tropical hardwoods, and it produces paper with good printability but low tearing and folding strength; the wood-pulp strength is greater than that of most hardwoods, with almost 50% greater ring crush. Its pulping properties are suitable for both paper and rayon production. Also used for particleboard production. An excellent firewood species with a specific gravity of 0.45-0.55 and a high calorific value of 4600 cal/kg. The wood burns steadily with little smoke, few sparks and produces less than 1% ash. The tree makes excellent charcoal with a heating value of 29 mJ/kg and good recovery values (25-30%). Addition of the ground wood to fuel oil for diesel engines was found to involve no harmful agents in the ash.

Biomass: Provides a large quantity of plant material that can be converted into fuel etc.

Dye: Plants that provide dyes.

Fencing: Plants that can be used for fencing.

Fibre: Used for making cloth, rope, paper etc.

Fodder: Food given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them) rather than forage for themselves.

Fuel: Usually wood, plant materials that have been mentioned as being a good fuel.

Furniture: A few miscellaneous uses that do not fit easily into other headings.

Gum: Gums have a wide range of uses, especially as stabilizers, emulsifiers, thickening agents, adhesives etc.

Hedge: Plants that can be grown as hedges.

Paper: Related to the entry for Fibre, these plants have been specifically mentioned for paper making.

Plant support: Usually bamboos, used as canes in the garden for holding up plants.

Shelterbelt: Wind resistant plants than can be grown to provide shelter in the garden etc.

Wood: A list of the trees and shrubs that are noted for having useful wood.

Agroforestry Services: Alley crop: Integrates annual crops with rows of perennials.

Agroforestry Services: Contour hedgerow: Alley cropping systems on the contour of slopes.

Agroforestry Services: Crop shade: Plants providing crop shade especially trees.

Agroforestry Services: Living fence: Simply managed rows of shrubs and trees.

Agroforestry Services: Living trellis: Plants to physically support other crops.

Agroforestry Services: Nitrogen: Plants that contribute to nitrogen fixation include the legume family – Fabaceae.

Agroforestry Services: Windbreak: Linear plantings of trees and shrubs designed to enhance crop production, protect people and livestock and benefit soil and water conservation.

Fodder: Bank: Fodder banks are plantings of high-quality fodder species. Their goal is to maintain healthy productive animals. They can be utilized all year, but are designed to bridge the forage scarcity of annual dry seasons. Fodder bank plants are usually trees or shrubs, and often legumes. The relatively deep roots of these woody perennials allow them to reach soil nutrients and moisture not available to grasses and herbaceous plants.

Fodder: Intensive Silvopasture: Combines improved pasture with high-density woody nitrogen-fixing legumes.

Industrial Crop: Biomass: Three broad categories: bamboos, resprouting woody plants, and giant grasses. uses include: protein, materials (paper, building materials, fibers, biochar etc.), chemicals (biobased chemicals), energy - biofuels

Management: Coppice: Cut to the ground repeatedly - resprouting vigorously. Non-destructive management systems maintaining the soil organic carbon.

Management: Standard: Plants grow to their standard height. Harvest fruit, seeds, or other products. Non-Destructive management systems.

Minor Global Crop: These crops are already grown or traded around the world, but on a smaller scale than the global perennial staple and industrial crops, The annual value of a minor global crop is under $1 billion US. Examples include shea, carob, Brazil nuts and fibers such as ramie and sisal.