Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit 

Scientific Name: Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit

Family: Mimosaceae

Common Name: Wild tamarind

Hindi Name: सफ़ेद बबूल

Description: large shrub, evergreen tree, bark greyish brown, slightly fissured, young shoots covered by tomentum. Leaves bipinnate, stipulate, stipule setaceous; rachis 7-15 cm long, pubescent, ending in a soft bristle, common rachis 15-20 cm long, pinnae 4-9 pairs, 5-10 cm long, hairy, ending into a bristle, leaflets 10-17 pairs, sessile, oblique, linear, oblong, acute, glabrous or subglabrous, base oblique. Flowers in globose white heads, often in pairs, peduncle 2.5-3.8 cm long, head 1.5-2.2 cm in diameter. Calyx 2-3.5 mm long, tubular-campanulate, teeth short, villous. Corolla 10-11 mm long, petals free, valvate, spathulate, pilose outside. Stamens 10, much exserted, anthers glandular. Ovary stalked, pubescent, style filiform, stigma minute. Pod straight, flat, 12.5-20 cm long, c.1.5-2.0 cm broad, minutely pilose, acute at the apex. Stipe 1-2.5 cm long Seeds 15-25, 5.6 mm long, c.4.5 mm broad, oval, glaucous, dark brown, with a prominent U-shaped mark on either side.

Economic Importance:  

• Seed oil could be used as a biofuel by blending with the conventional diesel.

• As a timber, it is used as a raw material for making agricultural implements.

Medicinal Importance:

• The seeds of leucocephala have great medicinal properties and are used to control stomachache, as contraception and abortifacient.

• The extracts of the seeds have reported as anthelmintic, antidiabetic and has a broad-spectrum antibacterial activity.

Cultural Importance:

• Indigenous use of pods for food in Mexico and wider use as an exotic for livestock fodder, green manure, small wood products such as fuelwood and poles, soil conservation.

• Abundantly available seed led to pantropical promotion and planting of L. leucocephala which was often heralded as ‘miracle tree’ by national and international development agencies.