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Apuleia leiocarpa
Fabaceae FAMILY

Apuleia leiocarpa

Apuleia leiocarpa

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree
GrowthSlow

Succeeds in full sun and in dappled shade[1]. Succeeds in a wide range of soils[1]. Young plants grow away slowly[1]. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[2].

Propagation

Seed - it has a hard seedcoat and may benefit from scarification before sowing to speed up germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing. Treated seed can be sown in a shaded nursery seedbed. Germination rates are usually lower than 60'5, with the seed sprouting in 20 - 40 days[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-19. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Apuleia+leiocarpa>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Brazilian Trees. Volume 1. 4th Edition. — Lorenzi. H. · Instituto Plantarum De Estudos Da Flora; Brazil. · 2002 · ISBN 85-86714-17-8 ↩︎Information on 350 species of Brazilian trees. Stunning photographs of each species, brief details on the plant, its uses and how to grow it from seed. A superb work, with the minor irritation that the translation from Portuguese is not of the best.
  2. [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  3. [3]Technical Information on 134 Species of Bolivian Woods — USDA Forest Service -- Forest Products Lab · USDA Forest Service · http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/publications/ ↩︎A PDF file, available for download. Exactly what the title says, brief and to the point.
  4. [4]Medicinal Plants of Brazil — Mors W.B.; Rizzini C.T.; Pereira N.A. · Reference Publications; Michigan. · 2000 · ISBN 0-917256-42-5 ↩︎An extremely concise book, listing approximately 1,500 species and varieties of plants with their botanical name, common name in Brazil, regions in Brazil where the plant is found, a brief list of uses and any medically active compounds in the plant.
  5. [5]Evaluation of the antimalarial activity of plants used by the Chacobo Indians — Muñoz V. et al · 2000 ↩︎
  6. [6]Indicador de Madeiras e Plantas Uteis do Brasil. — Fonseca E. T. De · Officinas graphicas Villas-Boas & Co.; Rio de Janeiro · 1922 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Brief details of some of the uses of Brazilian plants. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  7. [7]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  8. [8]Tropix 7 — CIRAD · http://tropix.cirad.fr/en ↩︎An on-line guide to the timbers of 245 species of trees.