Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth ex Walp.
Family
Leguminosae
Synonyms
Gliricidia maculata (Kunth) Kunth ex Walp.
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia | Bunga jepun (also used for Thevetia spp.). |
| English |
Gliricidia, mother of cocoa, Mexican lilac. |
| American | Quickstick. |
| Indonesia | Gamal, liriksidia (Javanese). |
| Philippines | Kakawate (general), madre-cacao, balok-balok (Tagalog). |
| Laos |
Kh’è: no:yz, kh’è: fàlangx. |
| Thailand |
Khae-farang. |
| Vietnam | Anh d[af]o g[is]a, s[as]t thu, h[oo]ng maio |
Geographical Distributions
Gliricidia sepium is a native of the seasonally dry Pacific Coast of Central America. It has long been cultivated and is naturalised in tropical Mexico, Central America and northern South 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.
Description
Gliricidia sepium is a small deciduous tree, measures up to 12 m tall, and with a short trunk up to 50 cm in diametre. The trunk is smooth or slightly fissured, whitish-grey to light brown bark and often branches from the base. The mature tree has an irregular spreading crown of thin foliage.
The leaves are arranged alternate, pinnate and measure 15-40 cm long. The petiole is 5 mm long. The rachis is slender, yellow green and finely hairy. There are 7-17 leaflets per leaf, opposite except at the upper part of rachis, elliptical or lance-shaped, measuring 3-6 cm x 1.5-3 cm, rounded or wedge-shaped at the base, acuminate at top, thin, dull green and hairless above, grey-green and often pubescent beneath.
The flowers are 5-12 cm long, and with axillary raceme about 2 cm long. The sepal is bell-shaped, 5-toothed and light green tinged with red. The petal is whitish-pink or purple, with a broad standard, folded back and yellowish near the base. There are 2 oblong, curved wings, and a narrow keel. There are 10 white stamens where 9 of them are united in a tube while 1 is free. The pistil is with a stalked, narrow, red ovary and a whitish and curved style.
The pod is narrow, flat, measuring 10-15 cm x 1.2-1.5 cm, and yellow-green when immature but turns yellowish-brown. It is shortly stalked and with a short mucro that splits open at maturity. The pod is 4-10-seeded. The seed is ellipsoid, about 10 mm long, shiny and dark reddish-brown.
Ecology / Cultivation
In its native range, the climate is relatively uniformly subhumid with an annual rainfall of 900-1500 mm and a five-month dry period. Gliricidia sepium has been introduced successfully in more humid zones with up to 3500 mm annual rainfall and without a marked dry season. In its native range, the mean annual temperature varies from 20-29oC, while the mean maximum temperature of the hottest month from 34-41oC, and the mean minimum temperature of the coldest month from 14-20°C. Light night frost can be tolerated, but not prolonged frost.
G. sepium occurs naturally in early and middle successional vegetation types on disturbed sites such as coastal sand dunes, river banks, floodplains and fallow lands, from sea level up to 1500 m altitude. It can tolerate a wide range of soil types, both alkaline and acidic, but prefers free drainage. It is also more tolerant of acid and low fertile soils than leucaena, but will respond to fertilizer application on such soils. It is not as well adapted to the subtropics as leucaena; leaves are shed with the onset of lower temperatures during winter, and plants are less resistant to frost. It is, however, more tolerant of waterlogged conditions than leucaena. In its native, seasonally dry habitat, trees are often exposed to annual fires. G. sepium tolerates such fires well and trees quickly resprout when the rains start, which explains the abundance of the tree in secondary vegetations and fallows.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No.11: Auxiliary plants.
