Luetzelburgia guaissara
Luetzelburgia guaissara
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
Grows best in a sunny position[1]. A very slow-growing tree[1]. The tree has a somewhat strange habit when ripening its seed - these ripen during the wet season and, at that time, the plant loses its leaves, or at least all those on the fruiting branches. The tree does not produce seed every year, but in the years that it does it loses its leaves twice - once in the dry season and then again when fruiting in the wet season[1]. Although many species within the family Fabaceae have a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria, this species is said to be devoid of such a relationship and therefore does not fix atmospheric nitrogen[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. The seed has a very short viability and so is best sown as soon as it is ripe in a partially shaded position in a nursery seedbed or in individual containers. A low germination rate can be expected from untreated seed, with the seed sprouting within 20 - 40 days[1]. The seedlings grow away slowly[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Luetzelburgia+guaissara>
Pollinators
Insects
References
- [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]Nodulation Plants in GRIN Taxonomy — United States Department of Agriculture · http://www.ars-grin.gov/~sbmljw/cgi-bin/taxnodul.pl?language=en ↩︎An online database listing plants that have either positive or negative reports on root and stem nodulation with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
- [3]A taxonomic revision of the South American papilionoid genus Luetzelburgia (Fabaceae) — Domingos Venício Oliveira Silva Cardoso; Luciano Paganucci D · 2014 ↩︎