Leucaena diversifolia

Botanical Description

Leucaena diversifolia is a deciduous tree or erect shrub with a light but spreading crown; it can grow 3 - 20 metres tall. When growing as a tree, the single-stemmed bole can be 20 - 50cm in diameter, slender and clear of branches for up to 10 metres[ 303 Title World Agroforesty Centre Publication Author Website http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc. , 1518 Title Leucaena A Genetic Resources Handbook Publication Tropical Forestry Papers No. 37 Author Hughes C.E. Website https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/leucaena/ Publisher Oxford Forestry Institute; Oxford, UK Year 1998 ISBN 0 85074 145 9 Description An excellent guide to the genus, giving detailed information on the various species ]. The tree is occasionally harvested from the wild for local use as a food. It is widely cultivated in tropical areas as a shade tree in plantations, for soil stabilization etc and as a source of wood. After Leucaena leucocephala, it is probably now the most widely cultivated species of Leucaena with a virtually pantropical, albeit somewhat scattered distribution[ 303 Title World Agroforesty Centre Publication Author Website http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc. , 1518 Title Leucaena A Genetic Resources Handbook Publication Tropical Forestry Papers No. 37 Author Hughes C.E. Website https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/leucaena/ Publisher Oxford Forestry Institute; Oxford, UK Year 1998 ISBN 0 85074 145 9 Description An excellent guide to the genus, giving detailed information on the various species ]. Leucaena diversifolia is widely distributed, sometimes locally abundant, sometimes cultivated as coffee shade and apparently thrives on disturbance and is thus of little or no conservation concern. A growing abundance of spontaneous hybrids between this species and Leucaena leucocephala in parts of Mexico and Guatemala could pose a threat of genetic contamination of native populations in the future[ 1518 Title Leucaena A Genetic Resources Handbook Publication Tropical Forestry Papers No. 37 Author Hughes C.E. Website https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/leucaena/ Publisher Oxford Forestry Institute; Oxford, UK Year 1998 ISBN 0 85074 145 9 Description An excellent guide to the genus, giving detailed information on the various species ]. The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2013)[ 338 Title IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Publication Author Website http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat. ].