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

Telotaun (Manihot carthagenensis)

Telotaun ( Manihot carthagenensis ) is a plant species in Euphorbiaceae, trees or shrubs 2-10 m tall, erect and fibrous, white latex, leaves varying with the subspecies noted are Manihot carthagenensis ssp. carthagenensis , Manihot carthagenensis ssp. glaziovii and Manihot carthagenensis ssp. hahnii . M. carthagenensis has an erect stem, a tubular shape, a young stem which is bright green and covered in white wax, an old stem that has a thin layer of brown skin. Long leaf stems and white waxy, arranged alternately, growing in all directions, green on the bottom and redish on the top. Leaves have 3-7 fingers each up to 25 cm long and up to 15 cm wide, ellipses become obovoid, sometimes pandurate and apex acute. Each leaf finger has a bone in the middle that moves linearly with some pinnate bones. The upper surface is green and slightly shiny, the lower surface is whitish green. The base of the leaf is centered at the end of the stalk, the pointed end which ends at the head of the sp...

Sandbox tree (Hura crepitans)

Sandbox tree ( Hura crepitans ) is species in Euphorbiaceae, a tropical tree, growing up to 60 meters tall and with a trunk circumference of up to 13.2 meters, the trunk is covered with long and sharp thorns and exudes a poisonous sap. H. crepitans has large, oval leaves, 15 cm wide and 20 cm long. The petioles are 22 cm long. The flowers are red and lack petals. Male flowers grow on long stalks, while female flowers grow singly in leaf axils. The fruit is a large, flask-shaped capsule, up to 10 cm in diameter, with 12-16 radially arranged carpels. The seeds are flat and about 2 cm in diameter. The capsule bursts when ripe, dividing into segments and ejecting the seeds at a speed of 70 m/s, a distance of 30-100 meters. This tree prefers moist soil and partial shade or partial to full sun, a warm, humid environment. It is often cultivated for shade. The wood is light and used to make canoes. The sap is used to poison fish. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiosperma...

Giant green leech (Raksasa hijau)

Lintah raksasa or giant green leech ( Raksasa hijau ) is a species of animal in Salifidae, large green leeches, carnivores, not hematophagic, can grow to lengths of more than 50 cm, the front is perfectly tubular, but it is getting bigger, wider and flat backward. R. hijau has a front end that ends with a white mouth and has a width equal to the diameter of the front end of the body. The rear end ends with the anus and has a width equal to the diameter of the rear end of the body. The upper surface is whole dark green or leafy green, looks shiny and has no other additional color features. The bottom surface is lighter or brownish green. The skin is wrinkled like tight, elastic joints that make it possible to lengthen the body. Giant green leech moves forward by extending the tip of the front of the body to keep the new location farther away and this movement is then followed by the middle body and gradually the rear where the body moves completely. R. hijau does not suck blo...