Lauraceae FAMILY Least Concern

Litsea glaucescens

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitTree

Growth—

Newly cut branches, covered with leaves, are much used for decorations at fiesta times, especially for making the arches that span streets and roads^[1]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required^[2].

Propagation

Seed - the pulp needs to be removed and the seed soaked in luke-warm water prior to sowing. Sow the seed about 1cm deep in a nursery seedbed. A germination rate of 30 - 60% can be expected^[3]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Litsea+glaucescens>

Pollinators

Insects

References

[1]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/
[2]A revision of Litsea (Lauraceae) in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore — Kok R.P.J. de · 2021 · http://10.26492/gbs73(1).2021-07 ↩︎A very detailed treatment of the species
[3]The Red List of Mexican Cloud Forest Trees — Editors González-Espinosa M., et al. · Fauna and Flora International; Cambridge, UK. · 2011 · http://www.globaltrees.org ↩︎Available to download from the Internet in PDF format, this publication gives some basic information on the trees of the Mexican Cloud Forests, focussing on their conservation status, but also with a description, habitat, some uses etc.
[4]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
[5]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
[6]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.
[7]Plants of Possible Insecticidal Value - A Review of the Literature up to 1941 — McIndoo N.E. · USDA; Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine · 1945 ↩︎Information on the insecticidal properties (or not) of almost 1,200 species of plant. Rather dated but still with information hard to obtain elsewhere. It can be downloaded from the Intenet