Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit

vernacular white leadtree — species · Fabaceae

USDA: LELE10
GBIF: 2970418
Rank: species

white leadtree (Leucaena leucocephala) — Platephotograph · Nikolett TóthCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus: Leucaena

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
NAV Navassa Island Introduced
PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
VI U.S. Virgin Islands Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 30 counties across 4 states/territories

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 30 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: None
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: High

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 25 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 365 min.
Precipitation: 15–80 in/yr
pH range: 5–8.7
Root depth: 4 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 20 ft
Height @ 20 y: 15 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: White
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: High
Toxicity: Moderate

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Indeterminate
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Year Round
Seed ends: Year Round
Spread rate: Rapid
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 9,525
Propagation: seed, cuttings, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: High
Lumber: No
Fuelwood: Medium
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 30 counties across 4 states/territories.

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/LELE10 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2970418 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z