Gliricidia sepium - Quickstick
Family:
Native to:
Habitat:
Fabaceae
Central America.
Sand dunes, riverbanks, flood plains. 5-1900 meters above sea level. 10 meters tall.
Ecological value:
Fast growing pioneer, can be an aggressive. Coppices well. Fixes nitrogen. Used for erosion control. Used to reclaiming imperata grasslands (imperata cylindrica) and as a green manure. Drought resistant. Pollinated by insects including bees.
Material uses:
he wood is hard, heavy and durable, resistant to wood boring insects. Used in construction, furniture, tool handles, in railway sleepers and farming tools. Important fuel-wood.
Edible uses:
Flowers, cooked. Used as shade tree for tea, cocoa and coffee.
Medicinal use:
Treats a variety of ailments such as bruises, headaches, burns, itches, alopecia, colds, coughs, ulcers, wounds, skin tumors, rheumatism etc. Anti-fungal.
Other details:
Live fence - very easy to propagate from cuttings. Used as fodder, in honey production (attract bees) and as an ornamental. Seeds are used as rat poison. Roots have a sweet taste and are preferred by rodents over roots of cacao or coffee trees. Grows 3 meters per year.
Research:
Adrian Chiu/Christine Facella
Sources:
“Gliricidia Sepium (Jacq.) Kunth | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science.” n.d. Plants of the World Online. Accessed November 26, 2023. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:496639-1.
“Gliricidia Sepium - Useful Tropical Plants.” n.d. Tropical.theferns.info. https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Gliricidia+sepium.
Image source: C. Facella