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Leucaena leucocephala
Also called Jumbie Bean, Mimosa, Tan Tan, Tantan Tree, Wild Tamarind, Coffeebush, Horse Tamarind
In Singapore: Lead Tree, Reuse Wattel, White Popinac, Horse Tamarind, Wild Tamarind, Leucaena, Jumbie Bean, Jumbay, Ipil-ipil, Petai Jawa, 银合欢, 臭豆 (Naturalised in Singapore)
White leadtree is a small, fast-growing tree from southern Mexico and Central America, now naturalized across the tropics and widely grown for fodder, firewood and soil improvement. It is a tree rather than a houseplant, and it is often invasive and prone to wind-throw.
Leucaena leucocephala is a small fast-growing mimosoid tree native to southern Mexico and northern Central America (Belize and Guatemala). It is now naturalized throughout the tropics including parts of Asia.
Common names include white leadtree, white popinac, horse tamarind, ipil-ipil, koa haole, tan-tan, and tangantangan.
The seeds of Leucaena leucocephala contain mimosine, an amino acid known to be toxic to nonruminant vertebrates.
Leucaena leucocephala is susceptible to insect infestations. In the 1980s, a widespread loss in Southeast Asia was due to pest attack by psyllids.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Leucaena leucocephala was promoted as a "miracle tree" for its multiple uses. It has also been described as a "conflict tree" because it is used for forage production but spreads like a weed in some places.
[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 Leucaena leucocephala 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.
