AgroForestryTree Database
Gliricidia sepium
 Species identityEcology and distributionPropagation and managementFunctional usesPests and diseasesAdditional InfoBibliographyImages |
Species identity
TaxonomySynonym(s)
Common names
(Creole) : piyon
(English) : gliricidia, Mexican lilac, mother of cocoa, Nicaraguan cacao shade, quick stick, St. Vincent plum, tree of iron
(Filipino) : apatot, balok-balok, kakawate, kakwate, kukuwatit, madre-cacao
(French) : immortelle, lilas étranger, madre de cacao
(Indonesian) : gamal, liriksidia
(Javanese) : gamal
(Lao (Sino-Tibetan)) : kh’è: fàlangx, kh’è: no:yz
(Malay) : bunga Jepun
(Portuguese) : madre de cacao
(Sinhala) : maikona gaha
(Spanish) : almácigo extranjero, amory celos, bien vestida, desnodo florecido, floresco, madre de cacao, madre negro, mata ratón, mataraton, palo de parque, piñón amoroso, piñón de cuba, piñón florido, varita de San José
(Thai) : kha farang, khae-farang
(Vietnamese) : anh d[af]o g[is]a, anh dào gisa, h[oo]ng mai, hông mai, s[as]t thu, sát thu,
Botanic description
Gliricidia sepium grows to a height of 2-15 m, has a medium crown and may be single or multistemmed. The bark colour is variable but is mainly greyish-brown, and it can be much fissured. The tree has deep roots when mature. Leaves are alternate and pinnate with (min. 7) 13-21 (max. 25) leaflets, papery, oblong with a distinctive pointed tip. Leaflet size increases towards the distal end of the leaf. At maturity, the upper surface ranges from smooth and hairless to bristly and usually has no tanniniferous patches. The lower surface can also be smooth and hairless or bristly but commonly has purplish tanniniferous patches concentrated toward the centre of the lamina. Flowers arranged on conspicuously short, upward-curving to erect inflorescences, which are usually pink, fading to whitish-brown or pale purple with age. Pods explosively dehiscent, strongly laterally compressed and pale green or reddish-pink when unripe, turning pale yellow-brown when fully ripe. Seeds transversely oriented, lenticular, not constricted in the middle. Seeds uniformly light brown, turning dark brown with age; 3-10 seeds in a single pod. The generic name Gliricidia refers to “mouse killer” in Latin, and the species epithet is named from the Latin saepes meaning hedge.
Ecology and distribution
History of cultivationA native of the seasonally dry Pacific coast of Central America, G. sepium has long been naturalized in tropical Mexico and Central America. It was also introduced to the Caribbean and later to West Africa. The Spaniards took it to the Philippines in the early 1600s. From Trinidad, it was taken to Sri Lanka in the 18th century; from there it reached other Asian countries, including Indonesia (about 1900), Malaysia, Thailand and India.
Natural Habitat
G. sepium occurs naturally in early and middle successional vegetation types on disturbed sites such as coastal sand dunes, river banks, floodplains and fallow land. It establishes well on steep slopes (40% gradient). Temperatures below 15 deg. C cause leaf fall and poor growth.
Geographic distribution
Native : El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, United States of America
Exotic : Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Malaysia, Mali, Martinique, Mauritania, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Niger, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (US), Zanzibar
Biophysical limitsAltitude: 0-1200 (1 600) m, Mean annual temperature: 15-30 deg. C, Mean annual rainfall: 600-3500 mm Soil type: Ranging from pure sand to deep alluvial lake-bed deposits. In much of its natural range the soils are acidic (pH 4.5-6.2); however, where parent material is limestone, the soils are slightly alkaline. It performs well on marginally saline vertisols but will not tolerate very acidic soils.
Reproductive Biology
G. sepium has hermaphrodite flowers and is strongly outcrossing with a robust self-incompatibility mechanism. It is insect pollinated, the most frequent visitor being the black bee, Xylocopa fimbriata. In natural populations, timing of flowering and seed production are predictable and uniform within a population, although there is no strict synchrony in flowering. In many parts of the naturalized range and where G. sepium is an exotic, flowering can occur any time of the year if there is no pronounced dry season; 10 days after the 1st petals emerge, and when they are approximately 15 mm long, the flower has fully opened. Individual flowers persist for a variable length of time depending on climatic conditions, but most last only 24-48 hours. Pod-ripening time ranges between 35 and 60 days. Pods can grow to full size within 3 weeks of fertilization. On maturity, pods dehisce explosively; tension builds up in the pod valves and the seeds are ejected to a distance of 25 m. This phenomenon facilitates rapid establishment, especially in disturbed sites. Wind plays a part in the direction of seed dispersal. Secondary dispersal by rain is also possible.
Propagation and management
Propagation methodsPretreatment of G. sepium seed is often not necessary, particularly where fresh seeds are used. However, when seeds are not fresh, soaking overnight in hot water is required and planting should proceed immediately thereafter. Seed or seedling inoculation with suitable strains of rhizobium is necessary where G. sepium is not naturalized. Direct sowing of seeds requires good land preparation and regular weeding: 90-100% germination occurs in 7 days. Where nursery seedlings are used, plantable size is attained in 3 months. G. sepium is propagated most commonly by cuttings, although this is not the most appropriate method for establishment in poor soils. Spacing is determined by the planting objective.Tree Management
Pruning and pollarding are the main management activities. Pruning at 0.3-1.5 m will stimulate leaf production. Pollarding at 2 m or above is recommended for optimal wood biomass production. Coppicing is used where the primary objective is fuelwood production. G. sepium has been shown to tolerate lopping and browsing.
Germplasm Management
Seed storage behaviour is orthodox. Viability is maintained for 12 months in open storage. There are about 8500 seeds/kg.
Functional uses
ProductsFood: Flowers can be fried and eaten. Fodder: G. sepium leaves are rich in protein and highly digestible, and low in fibre and tannin. There is evidence of improved animal production (both milk and meat) in large and small ruminants when G. sepium is used as a supplement. Goats on G. sepium gained weight and maintained a positive N balance. However, non-ruminants fed on G. sepium have shown clear signs of poisoning. Perceptions of palatability vary greatly around the world. There are reports from India and Indonesia of limitations to its use because animals will not eat it. In some areas, such as Colombia and Sri Lanka, there is no palatability constraint and it is an important dry-season feed. Apiculture: The flowers attract honeybees (Apis spp.), hence it is an important species for honey production. Fuel: Often used for firewood and charcoal production. The wood burns slowly without sparking and with little smoke, so it is an important fuelwood in the subhumid tropics. The calorific value of a 5-year-old tree is 4550 kcal/kg. Timber: Gliricidia has light brown sapwood and dark brown heartwood, turning reddish-brown on exposure to air. It is hard, coarse textured with an irregular grain, very durable and termite resistant. Wood is utilized for railway sleepers, farm implements, furniture, house construction and as mother posts in live-fence establishment. Poison: The leaves, seeds or powdered bark are toxic to humans when mixed with cooked rice or maize and fermented. The mechanism of toxicity is not understood. G. sepium has found application as a rodenticide and general pesticide. Medicine: Crude extracts have been shown to have antifungal activity. Reported to be expectorant, sedative and suppurative. Madre de cacao is a folk remedy for alopecia, boils, bruises, burns, colds, cough, debility, eruptions, erysipelas, fever, fractures, gangrene, headache, itch, prickly heat, rheumatism, skin tumours, ulcers, urticaria and wounds.Services
Erosion control: Hedgerows in alley cropping serve to suppress weed growth and control erosion and have been shown to reduce the incidence of disease in groundnut crops. Shade or shelter: G. sepium is widely cultivated as shade for perennial crops (tea, coffee and cocoa). It is also used as a nurse tree for shade-loving species. Attributes contributing to its value as a shade tree include its fine, feathery foliage giving light shade, and the ability to withstand repeated pruning and to resprout vigorously. Reclamation: G. sepium has been planted to reclaim denuded land or land infested with Imperata cylindrica. Nitrogen fixing: The tree is capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Soil improver: As a green manure, G. sepium increases soil organic matter; it aids in recycling of soil nutrients as it produces much litter. It also improves soil aeration and reduces soil temperature. It is a drought-resistant and valuable water-conserving species, because in the dry season it sheds most of its leaves, hence reducing water loss through transpiration. Boundary/barrier/support: Suitable for live fencing around cattle pastures and for delineating boundaries. Its fast growth, ease of propagation, nitrogen fixing ability and light canopy makes it ideal as a live stakes. It has been used to support black pepper, vanilla and yam in West Africa and India. Other services: The predictable relationship between flowering in G. sepium and the onset of the rainy season in Venezuela shows that it is a promising indicator species.
Pests and diseasesChocolate leaf spot, Cercosporidium gliricidiasis, causes small, light brown, rounded spots with dark borders and is widely recorded. Other diseases include Sirosporium gliricidiae, which is associated with poor-growing trees, on which attacks can often result in moderate defoliation; Cladosporium spp., which caused defoliation in Costa Rica; and scab, Sphaceloma spp., which is manifested as brown lesions on the petioles and stems, has been found in Honduras. Of significant interest is the fact that it is resistant to the psyllid Heteropsylla cubana, which has caused serious devastation to Leucaena leucocephala. Twig, stem and branch die-back caused by Botryosphaeria, Nectria and Phomopsis spp. have been recorded in Central America, Asia and Africa. Viruslike symptoms, including leaf curl, shoestring leaves, foliar distortion, mosaic, and mottle, have been noted in Central America. Leaf defoliators such as Hylesia lineata, Erynnis spp. and Spodoptera spp. have been reported to attack trees less than 3 years old as well as older trees in Central America. The aphid Aphis craccivora has been reported widely in India, Uganda and Trinidad. There have been no serious attacks from these insect pests except in the Dominican Republic, where serious aphid attacks have been recorded.
Bibliography
Benachio S. 1980. Phenological studies on Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth. A potential indicator species in Venezuela. Tropical Ecology and Development. 183-197.Faridah Hanum I, van der Maesen LJG (eds.). 1997. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 11. Auxillary Plants. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Hong TD, Linington S, Ellis RH. 1996. Seed storage behaviour: a compendium. Handbooks for Genebanks: No. 4. IPGRI.
ICRAF. 1992. A selection of useful trees and shrubs for Kenya: Notes on their identification, propagation and management for use by farming and pastoral communities. ICRAF.
Jackson JK. 1987. Manual of afforestation in Nepal. Department of Forestry, Kathmandu.
Katende AB et al. 1995. Useful trees and shrubs for Uganda. Identification, Propagation and Management for Agricultural and Pastoral Communities. Regional Soil Conservation Unit (RSCU), Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA).
MacDicken GK. 1994. Selection and management of nitrogen fixing trees. Winrock International, and Bangkok: FAO.
Mbuya LP et al. 1994. Useful trees and shrubs for Tanzania: Identification, Propagation and Management for Agricultural and Pastoral Communities. Regional Soil Conservation Unit (RSCU), Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA).
Perino J. 1979. Rehabilitation of a denuded watershed through the introduction of Kakwate (Gliricidia sepium) Sylvatrop. Phillipian Forestry Resource Journal 4(2):49-67.
Richards DE et. al. 1994. Replacement value of tree legume concentrates in forage based diets. I. Replacement value of G. sepium for growing goats. Animal Feed Science and Technology 46:37-51.
Roshetko JM and Evans DO. 1997. Domestication of Agroforestry trees in Southeast Asia. Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Stewart JL, Allison GE, Simons AJ. 1996. Gliricidia sepium. genetic resources for farmers: Tropical Forestry Papers No 33. Oxford Forestry Institute. Oxford University Press.
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Williams R.O & OBE. 1949. The useful and ornamental plants in Zanzibar and Pemba. Zanzibar Protectorate.