Skip to main content

Quickstick (Gliricidia sepium)

Gamal or gliricidia or fence post tree or quickstick (Gliricidia sepium) is a shrub species in Fabaceae, many branches, 2-15 m high, stem diameter 15-30 cm, grayish brown to whiteish leaves, shedding leaves in the dry season and sometimes grooved on old stems.

G. sepium has odd pinnate compound leaves, 15-30 cm long and when young has fine hairs. A number of leaflets of 7-17 pairs sit face to face, lanceolate, 3-6x1.5-3 cm, pointed tip and rounded base. Bare, thin, green on the top and white on the bottom.

Dlium Quickstick (Gliricidia sepium) #Dlium @Dlium

The flower group in panicles contains 25-50 florets and 5-12 cm long. The flower has 5 petals, bright green with a white-purple crown and 10 white stems. Flowers come at the end of the dry season when the trees are not leafy.

Pods have 3-8 seeds, flat elongated, 10-15x1.5-2 cm, green yellow and finally blackish brown, breaking down when ripe and dry. When it's time the pods erupt and throw the seeds as far as 25 m from the tree.

Quickstick has flowers, so some people plant it as an exotic plant. Flowers are often seen all over the tree where the leaves are very few after falling. Trees are planted as living fences or shade for cocoa, coffee, tea, vanilla and pepper.

Gamal has good roots for accumulating nitrogen. This plant also functions as an erosion control and weed killer. The flowers are good bee food. The leaves contain a lot of protein and are easily digested by ruminants. Leaves and twigs as green fertilizer to fertilize the soil.



Fence post tree is a good source of firewood, burning slowly, less smoke and calorific value of 4900 kcal/kg. Terrace wood is durable and resistant to termites with BJ 0.5-0.8. This wood is good for making household furniture, building construction and others.

Leaves, seeds and bark contain poisons but not ruminants. Plant extract is used as a remedy for various skin diseases, rheumatism, headaches, coughs, eye infections and certain injuries. The herb is also used as a natural pesticide and rodenticide.

The original habitat is tropical deciduous forest, 0-1600 m elevation, valleys and slopes, often in logged and shrub areas. Grows on various ecosystems in sand soils up to alluvial deposits on the shores of the lake at 600-3500 mm/year rainfall.

Gliricidia is propagated vegetatively and generatively. Fresh seeds are spread directly without special treatment. Cuttings use stems 1-2.5 m long and 6-10 cm in diameter, the bottom pieces are fried to stimulate the roots. Short cuttings are planted one third in the soil, while long cuttings are planted as deep as 50 cm to be strong.

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Gliricidia
Species: G. sepium

Popular Posts

Korean mulberry (Morus indica)

Murbei or Korean mulberry ( Morus indica ) is a species of plant in Moraceae, shrub or small tree, up to 10 meters tall, slow growing, cylindrical stem, light brown with white nodules, M. indica has heart-shaped or oval-shaped leaves and sometimes three-lobed, 4-12.5 cm long, 2.5-7.5 cm wide, pointed tip, serrated margin, green and has a stalk. Monoecious inflorescences with male and female grow on the same tree, though often on different branches. Male flowers have a size of 9-11.5 mm and are covered with fine hairs. The female flowers are subglubose or only round in shape, measuring 6-9.5 mm. Stigma is 3.5 mm long with short, thick hair. The female flowers form compound fruit and are fleshy, green and white-haired to white, red and black when ripe. Korean mulberry is used in regulating blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Rosales Family: Moraceae Genus: Morus Species: Morus indica

Swietenia mahagoni and Swietenia macrophylla, the differences

SPECIES HEAD TO HEAD - To date, mahogany ( Swietenia Jacq.) is recorded as having four species: West Indian mahogany or small-leaved mahogany ( Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq.), big-leaf mahogany ( Swietenia macrophylla King), Honduran mahogany ( Swietenia humilis Zucc.) and Swietenia × aubrevilleana StehlĂ© & Cusin. The debate over the number of taxa in the genus is still not resolved. Some researchers believe that there are only two species: S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla . I agree with that opinion and the two species can only be differentiated by the size of the leaves. All species in this genus have similar morphology except for leaf size. The following is the key to identifying these two species. S. mahagoni has a stalk length of around 37 cm with 5-6 pairs of strands. The strands are about 10 cm long and about 3.5 cm wide. S. macrophylla has a stalk length of up to 45 cm with 4-5 pairs of strands. The strands are up to 31 cm long and up to 8 cm wide. By Aryo Bando...

Aquatic bacteria Comamonas testosteroni eats plastic waste into carbon for microbial growth

NEWS - Researchers report an enzyme that breaks down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in a somewhat unlikely place: Comamonas testosteroni , a microbe that lives in sewage sludge. The enzyme could be used by wastewater treatment plants to break down microplastic particles and recycle plastic waste. Plastic pollution is everywhere, and it mostly consists of PET. The polymer is used to make bottles, containers and even clothing. PET beads are an increasingly common microplastic found in places ranging from remote oceans to inside our bodies. But the particles are so small that they can escape water treatment processes and end up in wastewater that re-enters the environment. On the other hand, wastewater also contains microorganisms that like to eat these plastic particles, including C. testosteroni, so named because it degrades sterols like testosterone. “It’s important to note that PET plastic represents 12% of global plastic use. And it accounts for up to 50% of microplastics in wastew...