| DESCRIPTION: It is a thornless tree reaching 10-15 m or even 20 m in height with a trunk diameter of 50-100 cm. Trees are typically branchy when young but may have a short, clear bole to 5 m in height when older. Leaves bipinnate, 20-25 cm long and 19-26 cm wide with a short petiole 19-25 cm long. USE: Leaves are browsed by cattle, f Flowers are a source on honey and wood used as fuel. The tree is planted for erosion control and the traditional retention by farmers of the tree in fields in parts of its natural range indicates the agroforestry potential of the species. In several areas in Nicaragua, it was used in a series of alley-cropping trials and has been intercropped with maize, sorghum and cowpea. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Aserillo, frijolillo, sipia, sipria (Spanish). FURTHER INF: It occupies a clearly defined, largely contiguous, distribution area. It has been found almost exclusively on the southern slopes of the hills of the Pacific watershed and is rarely, if ever, on the flat coastal plains. It is also notable that the distribution rarely overlaps with other Leucaena species. In El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, it occurs in the seasonally dry, tropical forest formations that extend throughout the Pacific coastal zone of Central America and Mexico. The soils where it is found are young, superficial and primarily of volcanic origin. They are extremely rocky, shallow, skeletal and generally freely drained. |