Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit

  • Authority

    Isley, Duane. 1973. Leguminosae of the United States: I. Subfamily. Mimosoideae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25 (1): 1-152.

  • Family

    Mimosaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit

  • Description

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    Species Description - Unarmed shrub (often appearing like a large herb) or tree. Young twigs and leafstalks puberulent. Leafstalk gland saucer shaped, circular to elliptic, to 3 mm in greatest diam; pinnae 4-8 pairs; leaflets 13-16 pairs, asymmetric-oblong, (6-) 8-14 mm, essentially glabrous; midvein displaced; secondary nervation not developed. Heads ca 2 cm diam, yellowish-white, terminally racemose-fascicled. Legume cuneate-stipitate, oblong or oblong-oblanceolate, compressed, 12-20 cm long, 14-20 mm wide; valves soft-coriaceous and green when immature, turning red to brown and hardening in ripening.

  • Discussion

    L. glauca auct. CN n = 26 (as L. glauca; Tixier, 1965). Correll & Johnston (1970) refer to presumed hybridization between contiguous L. leucocephala and L. pulverulenta in Texas. In Florida, I am more impressed with the proficiency of survival of L. leucocephala in weedy situations than its virtues as an ornamental; it is a homely, coarse plant which springs up like box elders and mulberries in more northern climes. It has been said to have much usefulness as a forage legume in Hawaii. Several somatic determinations of 2n = 104 have been recorded for L. leucocephala. These are probably an artifact of somatic polyploidy. I have previously (Isely, 1970b) referred to literature concerning the phenomenon in mimosoid legumes.

  • Distribution

    S Florida, s Texas, and s California. Native (?) to s Florida, a cultivated ornamental, weedy in disturbed urban and rural areas. Reported for California in cultivation by Mathias & McClintock (1963). March-June or all year. Popinac, Lead tree. Tropics of both hemispheres, presumably originally of New World.

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