CSIR-NEERI Biodiversity Portal

SUBABUL

Leucaena leucocephala(Lam.)

Botanical name	: Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit
Synonym	: Leucaena latisiliqua (Linn.) Gillis
Vernacular name	: Subabul
Family	: Fabaceae ( Mimosoideae)
About the Tree	: Leucaena leucocephala originates from Mexico is a small, perennial, woody, highly branched to medium-sized tree with a short, clear bole. This evergreen plant is deep rooted. It often has a combination of flowers, immature and mature pods all present on the tree at the same time. It has been introduced in India.
Height	: 3-15 (max. 20) m
Bark	: Bark is darker grey-brown and rougher with shallow, rusty orange-brown vertical fissures and deep red inner bark on older branches.
Leaf	: Leaves bi pinnate with 4-9 pairs of pinnae and 13-21 pairs of leaflets per pinna. The leaflets are small, 9-21 mm long, 2-4.5 mm wide, linear-oblong or weakly elliptic, acute at the tip, rounded to obtuse at the base and glabrous except on margins, with a concave, cup-shaped, elliptic petiole gland .Leaves and leaflets fold up with heat, cold or lack of water.
Flower	: Flowers arranged on compact globose heads, the flower heads in groups of 2-6 in leaf axils arising on actively growing young shoots, the heads 12-21 mm in diameter with 100-180 flowers per head, the flowers white or pale cream-white. Here Hairy anthers (visible with hand lens)distinguish Leucaena from all other mimosoid legume genera.
Fruits	: Pods are 9-19 cm long, 13-21 mm wide, linear-oblong and flat with papery pod walls, mid- to orange-brown, or densely covered in white velvety hairs ,arranged in clusters of 3-20, and occasionally up to 45, per flower head.
Season
Medicinal Properties Peculiar Character	: Leaves of L. leucocephala widely used as a green manure in cropping systems. : L. leucocephala is highly invasive .It is aggressive colonizer of ruderal sites and disturbed vegetation both in Mexico and in many parts of Asia.