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Taxon:  Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit



Summary
Genus:
Leucaena
Family:
Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae)
Subfamily:
Mimosoideae
Tribe:
Mimoseae
Nomen number:
21959
Place of publication:
Taxon 10:54. 1961
Verified:
10/30/1989 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
225 (225  active, 220  available) in Australian Pastures Genebank.  (Map it)
Other conspecific taxa
Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit subsp. glabrata (Rose) Zarate (18 active accession[s])
Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit subsp. ixtahuacana C. E. Hughes (0 active accession[s])
Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit subsp. leucocephala (277 active accession[s])
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Heterotypic Synonym(s)
Acacia glauca Willd.
Leucaena glauca auct.
No images


Reference(s)
  1. Abbiw, D. K. Useful plants of Ghana. 1990
  2. Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin). 2009
  3. Aubréville, A. et al., eds. Flore du Cambodge du Laos et du Viet-Nam. 1960-
  4. Bosser, J. M. et al., eds. Flores des Mascareignes. 1976-
  5. Boutelje, J. B. Encyclopedia of world timbers, names and technical literature. 1980
  6. Brewbaker, J. L. 1987. Species in the genus Leucaena. Leucaena Res. Rep. 7(2):15.
  7. Campbell, F. T., ed. Report of National Coalition of Exotic Plant Pest Councils. 1995 (unpublished draft)
  8. Chinese Academy of Sciences. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae. 1959-
  9. Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds. 1997. Auxiliary plants. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). 1989- 11:175-180.
  10. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
  11. Germishuizen, G. & N. L. Meyer, eds. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14. 2003
  12. Hacker, J. B. A guide to herbaceous and shrub legumes of Queensland. 1990
  13. Hansen, A. & P. Sunding. Flora of Macaronesia: checklist of vascular plants, ed. 4. Sommerfeltia vol. 17. 1993
  14. Henderson, L. Alien weeds and invasive plants: a complete guide to declared weeds and invaders in South Africa. Plant Protection Research Institute, Handbook 12. 2001
  15. Hnatiuk, R. J. Census of Australian vascular plants. Australian Flora and Fauna Series No. 11. 1990
  16. Howard, R. Flora of the lesser Antilles. 1974-1989
  17. Hughes, C. E. 1998. Leucaena: a genetic resources handbook. Trop. Forest. Pap. Commonw. Forest. Inst. 37:182.
  18. Hughes, C. 1998. Monograph of Leucaena (Leguminosae-Mimosoideae). Syst. Bot. Monogr. 55:107.
  19. Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry. Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER): plant threats to Pacific ecosystems (on-line resource).
  20. Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS). Australian plant common name database (on-line resource).
  21. Isely, D. 1973. Leguminosae of the United States: I. Subfamily Mimosoideae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25(1):95.
  22. Isely, D. Native and naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the United States (exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii). 1998
  23. Kartesz, J. T. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 1994
  24. Kingsbury, J. M. Poisonous plants of the United States and Canada. 1964
  25. Kumar, S & P. V. Sane. Legumes of South Asia: a checklist. 2003
  26. Lampe, K. F. & M. A. McCann. AMA handbook of poisonous and injurious plants. 1985
  27. Lock, J. M. Legumes of Africa: a checklist. 1989
  28. Mabberley, D. J. The plant-book: a portable dictionary of the vascular plants, ed. 2. 1997
  29. Markle, G. M. et al., eds. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. 1998
  30. McVaugh, R. Flora Novo-Galiciana. 1983-
  31. Nasir, S. M. & M. Athar. 1998. Fuelwood as an energy source. Phytologia 85:106.
  32. National Academy of Sciences. Firewood crops. Shrub and tree species for energy production. 1980
  33. National Academy of Sciences. Tropical legumes: resources for the future. 1979
  34. Parrotta, J. A. Healing plants of peninsular India. 2001
  35. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994
  36. Shaw, E. A. & B. G. Schubert. 1976. A reinterpretation of Leucaena and Lysiloma. J. Arnold Arbor. 57:113.
  37. Smith, R. J. Botanical beads of the world (on-line resource).
  38. Smitinand, T. & K. Larsen, eds. Flora of Thailand. 1970-
  39. 't Mannetje, L. & R. M. Jones, eds. 1992. Forages. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). 1989- 4:150.
  40. Turner, B. L. The legumes of Texas. 1959
  41. Verdcourt, B. A manual of New Guinea legumes. 1979
  42. Weber, E. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds. 2003
  43. Wright, H. 1903. Nitrogenous plants. Circ. Agric. J. Roy. Bot. Gard. Peradeniya 2(4):77-81.
  44. Wu Zheng-yi & P. H. Raven et al., eds. Flora of China (English edition). 1994-
  45. Zárate P., S. 1984. Taxonomic revision of the genus Leucaena from Mexico. Bull. Groupe Int. Étude Mimosoideae 12:29.
  46. Zárate P., S. 1987. Taxonomic identity of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit with a new combination. Phytologia 63:304-306.
  47. Zárate P., S. 1994. Revisión del género Leucaena Benth. en México. Anales Inst. Biol. Univ. Nac. México 65:124.
  48. Webster's third new international dictionary. 1961
Common names
English
coffeebush –
horse-tamarind –
ipil-ipil –
jumbie-bean –
leadtree –
leucaena –
sneakytree –
vi-vi –
white popinac –
Afrikaans
reusewattel –
French
graines de lin –
Hawaiian
koa haole –
Spanish
guaje –
huaxin –
tamarindo silvestre –
uaxim –
Swedish
ipil-ipil –
Transcribed Chinese
yin he huan –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeNorthern AmericaSouthern MexicoMexicoCampeche 
1NativeNorthern AmericaSouthern MexicoMexicoChiapas 
1NativeNorthern AmericaSouthern MexicoMexicoOaxaca 
1NativeNorthern AmericaSouthern MexicoMexicoQuintana Roo 
1NativeNorthern AmericaSouthern MexicoMexicoTabasco 
1NativeNorthern AmericaSouthern MexicoMexicoVeracruz 
1NativeNorthern AmericaSouthern MexicoMexicoYucatan 
1NativeSouthern AmericaMesoamericaBelize  
1NativeSouthern AmericaMesoamericaGuatemala  
2Cultivated     
4NaturalizedAfricaEast Tropical AfricaKenya  
4NaturalizedAfricaEast Tropical AfricaTanzania  
4NaturalizedAfricaEast Tropical AfricaUganda  
4NaturalizedAfricaMacaronesiaCape Verde  
4NaturalizedAfricaMacaronesiaPortugalMadeira Islands 
4NaturalizedAfricaMacaronesiaSpainCanary Islands 
4NaturalizedAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaChad  
4NaturalizedAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaEthiopia  
4NaturalizedAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaSomalia  
4NaturalizedAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaSudan  
4NaturalizedAfricaNorthern AfricaEgypt  
4NaturalizedAfricaSouth Tropical AfricaAngola  
4NaturalizedAfricaSouth Tropical AfricaMalawi  
4NaturalizedAfricaSouth Tropical AfricaMozambique  
4NaturalizedAfricaSouth Tropical AfricaZimbabwe  
4NaturalizedAfricaSouthern AfricaSouth AfricaEastern Cape 
4NaturalizedAfricaSouthern AfricaSouth AfricaKwaZulu-Natal 
4NaturalizedAfricaSouthern AfricaSouth AfricaLimpopo 
4NaturalizedAfricaSouthern AfricaSouth AfricaMpumalanga 
4NaturalizedAfricaSouthern AfricaSwaziland  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaCote D'Ivoire  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaGhana  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaGuinea  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaGuinea-Bissau  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaLiberia  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaMali  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaNiger  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaNigeria  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaSenegal  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaSierra Leone  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest Tropical AfricaTogo  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest-Central Tropical AfricaBurundi  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest-Central Tropical AfricaEquatorial Guinea  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest-Central Tropical AfricaSao Tome and Principe  
4NaturalizedAfricaWest-Central Tropical AfricaZaire  
4NaturalizedAfricaWestern Indian OceanComoros  
4NaturalizedAfricaWestern Indian OceanMauritius  
4NaturalizedAfricaWestern Indian OceanReunion  
4NaturalizedAfricaWestern Indian OceanSeychelles  
4NaturalizedAsia-TemperateChinaChina  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentBangladesh  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentBhutan  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndia  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentNepal  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentPakistan  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentSri Lanka  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalMalesiaPhilippines  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalNorth Indian OceanIndiaAndaman and Nicobar 
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalNorth Indian OceanMaldives  
4NaturalizedAustralasiaAustraliaAustralia  
4NaturalizedEurope Europe  
4NaturalizedNorthern AmericaSouth-Central U.S.A.United StatesTexas 
4NaturalizedNorthern AmericaSoutheastern U.S.A.United StatesFlorida 
4NaturalizedPacificNorth-Central PacificUnited StatesHawaii 
4NaturalizedPacificNorthwestern PacificGuam  
4NaturalizedPacificNorthwestern PacificMarshall Islands  
4NaturalizedPacificNorthwestern PacificMicronesia  
4NaturalizedPacificNorthwestern PacificNorthern Mariana Islands  
4NaturalizedPacificNorthwestern PacificPalau  
4NaturalizedPacificSouth-Central PacificCook Islands  
4NaturalizedPacificSouth-Central PacificFrench Polynesia  
4NaturalizedPacificSouth-Central PacificKiribatiLine Islands 
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificAmerican Samoa  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificFiji  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificKiribatiGilbert Islands 
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificNauru  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificNew Caledonia  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificNiue  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificSamoa  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificSolomon Islands  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificTonga  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificVanuatu  
4NaturalizedPacificSouthwestern PacificWallis and Futuna Islands  
4NaturalizedSouthern AmericaWestern South AmericaEcuadorGalapagos Islands 
Native
Northern America
  • SOUTHERN MEXICO: Mexico [Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, Yucatan]
Southern America
  • MESOAMERICA: Belize, Guatemala
Cultivated ()
Naturalized
Africa
  • EAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
  • MACARONESIA: Cape Verde, Spain [Canary Islands], Portugal [Madeira Islands]
  • NORTHEAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Chad
  • NORTHERN AFRICA: Egypt
  • SOUTH TROPICAL AFRICA: Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe
  • SOUTHERN AFRICA: Swaziland, South Africa [Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga]
  • WEST TROPICAL AFRICA: Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
  • WEST-CENTRAL TROPICAL AFRICA: Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Zaire
  • WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN: Comoros, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles
Asia-Temperate
  • CHINA: China
Asia-Tropical
  • INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan
  • MALESIA: Philippines
  • NORTH INDIAN OCEAN: India [Andaman and Nicobar], Maldives
Australasia
  • AUSTRALIA: Australia
Europe
  • REGION: Europe
Northern America
  • SOUTH-CENTRAL U.S.A.: United States [Texas]
  • SOUTHEASTERN U.S.A.: United States [Florida]
Pacific
  • NORTH-CENTRAL PACIFIC: United States [Hawaii]
  • NORTHWESTERN PACIFIC: Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau
  • SOUTH-CENTRAL PACIFIC: Cook Islands, Kiribati [Line Islands], French Polynesia
  • SOUTHWESTERN PACIFIC: American Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati [Gilbert Islands], New Caledonia, Niue, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Samoa
Southern America
  • WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA: Ecuador [Galapagos Islands]
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Animal foodfodder Markle, G. M. et al., eds. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. 1998
Animal foodforage Markle, G. M. et al., eds. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. 1998
Environmentalagroforestry 't Mannetje, L. & R. M. Jones, eds. 1992. Forages. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). 1989- 4:150.
Fuelsfuelwood National Academy of Sciences. Firewood crops. Shrub and tree species for energy production. 1980
Materialsbeads Smith, R. J. Botanical beads of the world (on-line resource).
Materialsfiber Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds. 1997. Auxiliary plants. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). 1989- 11:175-180.
Materialspotential as tannin/dyestuff National Academy of Sciences. Tropical legumes: resources for the future. 1979
Vertebrate poisonsmammals Lampe, K. F. & M. A. McCann. AMA handbook of poisonous and injurious plants. 1985
Weedpotential seed contaminant Henderson, L. Alien weeds and invasive plants: a complete guide to declared weeds and invaders in South Africa. Plant Protection Research Institute, Handbook 12. 2001
Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2025. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://apg.pir.sa.gov.au/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=21959. Accessed 18 July 2025.


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