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Gliricidia sepium
Also called Nicaraguan Cocoashade, Quick Stick, Fence Post Tree
In Singapore: Mexican Lilac, Madre De Cacao, Nicaraguan Cacao-shade, Madre, Gliricidia, Mother of Cocoa, Quick Stick (Grown in Singapore)
Gliricidia sepium is a fast-growing, medium-sized leguminous tree grown across the tropics for shade, live fencing, fodder and green manure. It is easy to grow from cuttings and prefers a warm, seasonally dry climate.
Gliricidia sepium, often simply referred to as gliricidia or by its Spanish common name madre de cacao (calque of Nahuatl cacahuanāntli; also anglicized as mother of cocoa), is a medium size leguminous tree belonging to the family Fabaceae. It is an important multi-purpose legume tree, with a native range from Mexico to Colombia, but now widely introduced to other tropical zones.
G. sepium has been cultivated extensively by indigenous American cultures in North, Central, and South America since the pre-Columbian era, which makes it difficult to ascertain its original native distribution. Genetic studies have identified the center of genetic diversity of G. sepium as the dry zones of southern Mexico and northern Central America, which is now generally regarded as its true native range.
G. sepium was spread from its native range throughout the tropics to shade plantation crops such as coffee. Today it is used for many other purposes including live fencing, fodder, firewood, green manure, intercropping, and rat poison. Its use expanded following the widespread defoliation of Leucaena by psyllid in the 1980s. In the charsutri method of paddy cultivation, leaves of glyricidia are incorporated in soil during ploughing.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Gliricidia sepium by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
