Gliricidia sepium (gliricidia)Fabaceae (legume family)

gliricidia, Mexican lilac, mother of cocoa, Nicaraguan cacao shade, quick stick, St. Vincent plum, tree of iron (Eng-lish); immortelle, lilas tranger (French); madre de cacao (French, Spanish); rechesengel (Palau)

Craig R. Elevitch and John K. Francis

IN BRIEFDistribution Widely naturalized in the tropical Americas, Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and thePacificislands.Size Medium tree to 15 m (50 ft), typicallyreaches10m(33ft)inheight;sizeisusuallycontrolledbyregularpruningincultivatedenvironments.Habitat Grows best in warm, seasonally dryclimates with 9001500 mm (3560 in) annualrainfallandelevations01200m(04000ft).Vegetation Where introduced, associatedwithawidevarietyofcultivatedcrops.Soils Growsinsandstoclays,preferringfreelydrainingsoilswithpH5.08.5.Growth rate Fastinearlyyears,orwhenannuallyprunedback,over2m/yr(6.6ft/yr).Main agroforestry uses Living fence posts,cropshade,improvedfallow.Main products Fuelwood, fodder, mulch/organicmatter.Yields Fuelwood from stands harvested every23yearsare1020m3/ha(143286ft3/ac).Intercropping Hasbeenusedforshadeandorganicmatterwithcacao,coffee,vanilla,tea,yam,andothercrops.Invasive potential Moderatepotentialforinvasiveness, has naturalized in many areas, but isusuallynotconsideredtobeapest.

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Boundary planting of gliricidia.

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Gliricidia sepium(gliricidia)

INTRODUCTIONGliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) is a mediumsize, semideciduoustreethattypicallygrowsto10m(33ft)(occasionallyreaching15m[50ft])inheight,withabroadcanopy.Native toCentralAmerica andpossiblynorthernSouthAmerica, itscultivation isnowpantropical. Itgrowsbestintropical,seasonallydryclimates.Thetreethrivesindeep,welldrainedsoils,althoughittoleratesshalloworskeletalsoilsthathavehighavailablecalciumlevels.Becauseofitsabilitytogrowinslightlysalinecalcareoussoils,gliricidiaissuitableforcultivationinatollenvironments.Itisafastgrowing,nitrogenfixingtreeusedthroughoutthetropicsforthemanyenvironmentalservicesandproductsitprovides.Gliricidiaiswidelyusedtoprovidecropshadeforcacao,coffee,andothershadelovingcrops, livingfencepostsforpastureandpropertyboundaries,andasafallowtreetoimprovedegradedland.Thetreeisalsoanimportantsourceofgreenmanure, fodder,andfuelwood.Itseaseofpropagationbyseedandsmallandlargecuttingsmakes it a very easy tree for farmers tomultiplyquickly.It is probably the most widely cultivated multipurposeagroforestry treeafterLeucaena leucocephala (SimonsandStewart1994).

DISTRIBUTION

Native rangeBecausegliricidiahasbeencultivatedfrompreColombiantimes,theprecisenativerangeisdifficulttodetermine.ItiscertainlynativetoMexico(fromabout2530N)andCentralAmerica(to730NinPanama)andmayalsobenativetonorthernSouthAmericainColombia,Venezuela,andtheGuianas.

Current distributionThespecieshasbeencultivatedandhasnaturalizedwidelyin tropicalAmerica, theCaribbean,Africa, andAsia. InthePacificislands,itisfoundinAmericanSamoa,CookIslands,FederatedStatesofMicronesia,Fiji,FrenchPolynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, New Caledonia, PapuaNewGuinea,Samoa,SolomonIslands,Tonga,andVanuatu.

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

Preferred scientific name Gliricidia sepium ( Jacq.)KunthexSteud.

Family Fabaceae(legumefamily)

SubfamilyFaboideae(Papilionoideae)

TribeRobinieae

Non-preferred scientific namesGaledupa pungamBlancoGliricidia lambiiFernaldGliricidia maculatavar.multijugaMicheliGliricidia maculate (Kunth)Walp.Lonchocarpus maculates(Kunth)DC.Lonchocarpus roseus(Miller)DC.Lonchocarpus sepium( Jacq.)DC.Millettia luzonensisA.GrayRobinia hispidaL.Robinia maculateKunthRobinia roseaMillerRobinia sepiumJacq.Robinia variagataSchltdl.

Common names

Pacificislandsgliricidia,Mexicanlilac,motherofcocoa,Nicaraguan

cacaoshade,quickstick,St.Vincentplum,treeofiron(English)

immortelle,lilastranger,madredecacao(French)rechesengel(Palau)

Otherregionsalmcigoextranjero,amorycelos,bienvestida,desnodo

florecido,floresco,madredecacao,madrenegro,mataratn,mataraton,palodehierro,palodeparque,pinamoroso,pindecuba,pinflorido,varitadeSanJos(Spanish)

gamal(Indonesia)

Size and formGliricidiaisasmall,thornless,semideciduoustree315m(1050 ft) inheightwith a trunkup to 30 cm (12 in) indiameter at breast height (dbh).The canopy diameter isaboutthesameastheheightformostprovenancesifnotpruned.The tree may have single or multiple stems andtendstohaveadiffuse,irregularcrown.Inagriculturalenvironments,thesizeandshapeareoftengreatlymodifiedbyrepeatedloppingtosuitthefarmersgoals.

SpeciesProfilesforPacificIslandAgroforestry(www.traditionaltree.org)

FlowersRacemesorpanicles512cm(25in)longareborneatthebase of leaves.The individual flowers have a light green(tingedwithred),fivetoothedcalyxandacorollaoffivewhitishpinkorlightpurplepetals.Theflowerhasatypical peaflower shape with a broad standard, two oblong,curvedwings,andtwounitedpetals.Thereare10whitishstamensandapistilwitharedovaryandawhitishstyle.

LeavesThe alternate, pinnate leaves, 1530 cm (612 in) long,havea silkypubescencewhenyoung.Thereare717 leafletpairsandaterminalleaflet.Theleafletsareellipticalorlanceolate,36cm(1.22.4 in) longand1.53cm(0.61.2in)wide,shorttolongpointedatthetip,androundedtoshortpointedatthebase.

FruitThefruitsareflattenedpods,1015cm(46in)long,thatcontainthreetoeightseeds.Theyareyellowgreen,becomingyellowandfinallybrownorblackishatmaturity.Floweringandfruitingbeginsbetween1and5yearsofage.

SeedsThe seeds are circular and flat, about 10 mm (0.4 in) indiameter,shiny,andlighttodarkbrown.Thereare470011,000 seeds/kg (21005000 seeds/lb), varying considerablyamongseedsources.Theseedsaredispersedwhenthepodsdrysufficientlythatthetwohalvesseparateandcurlexplosively,propellingtheseedsasfaras25m(82ft)awayfromthemothertree.

BarkThebarkissmoothtoslightlyfissuredandgraytobrown.

Rooting habitGliricidiapropagatedfromcuttingsproducesanextensive,shallow, lateral root system. Seedlings develop taproots,butitisunclearifthetaprootsendurethroughoutthelifeoftheplant.Onestudyoftreesfromseedlingsoncoastalsandsreportedpoorlydevelopedtaprootsandwelldevelopedlateralroots.

Similar or look-a-like speciesGliricidia looks superficially like several other leguminous tree species.The foliage can be confused with variousshowertreesthatare frequentlyusedasornamentals,such as Cassia javanica. Shower trees have clusters ofcream,pink,orange,yellow,or redflowers resembling inshapeandsizelargebunchesofgrapeshangingfromsmallbranchesTheflowershavefivepetalsof similar sizeandshape.Incontrast,gliricidiahaspealikeflowersinclusters

NAME DERIVATIONS Gliricidia from Latin glis, dormouse and caedere,

tokill and theSpanishnamemata-ratn refer tothetreesrodenticidalproperties.

Theepithet sepiummeansofhedgeswhich is theuseofthetreeJacquinobservedinColumbiainthemideigtheenthcentury.

Mother of cocoa and theSpanishmadre de cacaorefertotheplantsfrequentuseasashadetreeforcacao.

Quick stick refers to the ability of cuttings toquicklyandeasilyrootandgrowintonewtrees.

TreeofironandtheSpanishpalo de hierrorefertothehard,durablewood.

Flowers and leaves.insEtflowErphotobyJ.parrotta,othErsbyC.ElEvitCh

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Gliricidia sepium(gliricidia)

thataremuchmoremodest insize,andwhitishpinktolightpurpleincolor.

GENETICS

Variability of speciesDifferences within gliricidia populations have been recognizedinstemlength,biomassproduction,flowercolor,seedsize,numberofracemespertree,numberofpodspertree, and synchrony of flowering. One study (Simmons1996)noted2.5timesasmanypodspertreeinMonterricothan in Belen Rivas provenance. A high correlation (r =0.73)betweenracemenumberandpodnumberwasnoted,butwithoutprovenanceorfamilyvariation.Anotherstudy(SimonsandDunsdon1992)notedprovenancevariations

in wood and foliage production. Of these, the variationin wood production was highest. Southern provenances(GuatemalaandNicaragua)weregenerallygoodperformers,whilenorthernprovenances (Mexico)weregenerallypoorperformers.Thereisgeneticevidencethatoneprovenance(Masaguara)isescapedfromdomesticationandanother(Pedasi)hasundergoneaseveregeneticbottleneck,i.e.,undergonealargereductioningeneticvariability.

Known varietiesTherearenoformallyrecognizedvarieties.

Culturally important related species in the genus In the genus Gliricidia, three species are currently recognizedG. sepium,G. brenningii,andG. maculate.Gliricidia brenningiihasmany tiny leaflets, tiny appendages at thebaseoftheleafletstalks,andlonger,darkerpods.Gliricidia maculatehas leathery leavesandusuallywhiteflowers inpendulousinflorescences.Gliricidia sepiumhassomewhatelongated, papery leaves, and pink flowers in upwardcurved to erect inflorescences. Members of the genusare obligate outbreeders (i.e., crosspollination betweentwoindividualsmusttakeplaceforseedstodevelop),andinterspecific hybridization is common between G. macu-lateandG. sepium inareaswheretheygrowinproximity.Gliricidia sepiumiswidelycultivatedbothwithinandoutsideofitsnativerange.Gliricidia brenningiiandG. macu-latearecultivatedwithintheirnativerangesforlivingfencepostsandornamentalsbutarenotcommerciallycultivatedandaregenerallyunknownoutsideoftheirranges.

Genetic resources where collections existGermplasmcollectionshavebeenmadebytheInternation

Left: Nearly mature seedpods turn from green to yellow (shown here), then dry to brown or blackish at maturity. Right: Bark of a 10-year-old tree. photos:C.ElEvitCh

Although the leaves are similar in appearance to gliricidia, the large clusters of ball-shaped flowers distinguish the shower tree (shown here). photo:C.ElEvitCh

SpeciesProfilesforPacificIslandAgroforestry(ww