General Information

COMMON NAMES: Leucaena, Lead Tree, White Popinac, Jumbey Tree TRADITIONAL NAMES: Nītō (RR MG AT MK); Other Polynesian - Fuapepe (SAM); COMMENT: RR- Said to have been originally used by Ngati Nītō, of Matavera - seeds sewn for artefacts, and firewood. GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE C.America - ?Caribbean COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands - mountains (++) SIGNIFICANCE LIST: (Forestry); Weed - serious KEY FEATURES: A shrubby-tree to 8m. BRANCH outer-section round. LEAVES alternate, compound; paired side-branches to 10cm, with up to 20 paired leaflets, each to 12x3mm; stalk and midrib slender, fine dorsal groove, one gland between basal side branches. FLOWERS axillary, one stalk with white pompom, 3cmØ, of many flowers. FRUIT stalk to 3cm with terminal cluster of up to 15 poods; pods straight, flat, to 140x20x2mm, with ~20 seeds. SEEDS brown, flat and oval, 8x5mm. SIMILAR SPECIES: Pacific Schleinitzia (Schleinitzia insularum) differs in having branch ends strongly ridged (vs round); leaflets densely packed ~40 pairs in 10cm (vs loose, ~20 pairs in 10cm); pods ripen black (vs brown); pods curved (vs straight); seeds black (vs brown).

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	+++	++	P?	P?	P	-	-	-

Northern Group: -
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.)
SYNONYMS: Leucaena glauca [incl. TC/GW]; Mimosa leucocephala

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ROSIDAE; Fabales (Legumes); MIMOSACEAE

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE: (Forestry). Comments: MATERIAL: Pungent wood, hard - making good block tools, similar to cigar box wood.
NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Weed - serious. Comments: A very prolific small tree in waste and long-fallow areas. Requires heavy machinery to remove it. Under moderate control by a psyllid (Heteropsylla cubana) which defoliates the tree.

GENERAL NOTE: This plant extracts selenium from volcanic soils and concentrates it in its seeds. When stock eat quantities of the seeds they can suffer selenium poisoning, which involves the loss of hair. (Arnold 1968)

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.679 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.410 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.652 Hortus 3rd
p.662 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.556 Tropica
p.3/063 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.278 R* Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.59 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.383c Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM04b, zD02

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