Leucaena retusa

[ahosey01]

Anybody growing this?

[Silas_Sancona]

Yep, No seed on mine yet ( too young )   Was a nice specimen in Glendale but was cut down for some reason sometime between 2018 and last year.  Some other specimens at Boyce, and a couple gardens in Tucson.

[ahosey01]

4 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Yep, No seed on mine yet ( too young )   Was a nice specimen in Glendale but was cut down for some reason sometime between 2018 and last year.  Some other specimens at Boyce, and a couple gardens in Tucson.

Why am I not surprised!?

Did you grow it from seed?

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, ahosey01 said:

Why am I not surprised!?

Did you grow it from seed?

Yep,  When it comes to drought tolerant flowering trees, no surprise at all.  Essentially what brought me to Arizona in the first place.  Seed came from the tree in Glendale.  Need to collect more from the other places next year.  Very easy and fairly fast grower.

[ahosey01]

1 minute ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Yep,  When it comes to drought tolerant flowering trees, no surprise at all.  Essentially what brought me to Arizona in the first place.  Seed came from the tree in Glendale.  Need to collect more from the other places next year.  Very easy and fairly fast grower.

I’d like to plant one of these alongside Vitex.  I picture the color being stellar.

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

I’d like to plant one of these alongside Vitex.  I picture the color being stellar.

Flowers are nice, but not dense like Tabebuia / Handroanthus. Flower roughly just after Tabs. ( mid March- early April-ish ) as well,  but well before any Vitex start flowering ( Vitex flower about the same time as Olneya here )

[Chester B]

I am, but they are too small to plant out yet.  Seed courtesy of @Silas_Sancona

I may have the only ones in the Pacific Northwest, so we'll see how they do here.  Slow growing for me so far.

[Swolte]

Fantastic plant and surprisingly hard to find. I just love the airy and bright foliage (stays like that for long while). I personally couldn't care less about the flowers but they're a nice bonus. I am trying to make it a focal point in the yard. I had a specimen that grew more than 5 feet (!) in a single season but unfortunately it did not return from the big Texas freeze earlier this year. I was able to find a new specimen (see second pic) that is still establishing! I am protecting it from browsers until it is large enough so they can't reach (or won't bother). I don't water them.

[Xerarch]

Not retusa but L pulverulenta grows all over the place here in Corpus in wild areas, I actually quite like the tropical looking mimosa-like leaves and have wondered why they don’t seem to get as any love as far as plantings. The flowers are nice but just white rather than yellow like retusa. 
 

[Silas_Sancona]

7 minutes ago, Xerarch said:

Not retusa but L pulverulenta grows all over the place here in Corpus in wild areas, I actually quite like the tropical looking mimosa-like leaves and have wondered why they don’t seem to get as any love as far as plantings. The flowers are nice but just white rather than yellow like retusa. 
 

Might be weedy, like L leucocephala, which also grows there ( and all over the place, lol ) : https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47447-Leucaena-leucocephala

..Is an absolute nightmare here ( seeds / dry pods blow and sprout everywhere, most trees look like hell most of the year )  Thankfully retusa and greggii aren't weedy.

Getting my hands on this one from Sonora next:  Leucaena lanceolata.




Regardless of the pretty, larger leaves, will get axed if weedy.

[Xerarch]

9 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Might be weedy, like L leucocephala, which also grows there ( and all over the place, lol ) : https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47447-Leucaena-leucocephala

..Is an absolute nightmare here ( seeds / dry pods blow and sprout everywhere, most trees look like hell most of the year )  Thankfully retusa and greggii aren't weedy.

Getting my hands on this one from Sonora next:  Leucaena lanceolata.
 

Actually I can't say that I'm positive that the local wild ones aren't leucocephala, it's just that I know that pulverulenta is the S Texas native and they (local ones) look like the ones from my memory that I saw in the RGV at the Sabal Palm Sanctuary, but I haven't done any in-depth ID.  I do know that there are some invasive Leucaena around, I read an article recently where they were trying to remove some of them from Padre Island National Seashore.

[Silas_Sancona]

13 minutes ago, Xerarch said:

Actually I can't say that I'm positive that the local wild ones aren't leucocephala, it's just that I know that pulverulenta is the S Texas native and they (local ones) look like the ones from my memory that I saw in the RGV at the Sabal Palm Sanctuary, but I haven't done any in-depth ID.  I do know that there are some invasive Leucaena around, I read an article recently where they were trying to remove some of them from Padre Island National Seashore.

Was looking at the two sp. and didn't see much of anything mentioned on weediness potential of  L. pulverulenta, ..a good thing.. I wonder though if that could change -if the two species managed to create an aggressive cross-.  Hopefully those doing the removal, know the differences between, and are taking out he right species, instead of the native one..

That's one thing about Lead Trees, several look similar, esp from a distance, or w/ out familiarizing one's self with detailed examination of each species distinct anatomical features. 

[PlantDad]

On 12/8/2021 at 8:48 PM, ahosey01 said:

Anybody growing this?

Interesting Tree

Edited February 28, 2022 by PlantDad

[Austinpalm]

On 12/10/2021 at 9:02 AM, Xerarch said:

Actually I can't say that I'm positive that the local wild ones aren't leucocephala, it's just that I know that pulverulenta is the S Texas native and they (local ones) look like the ones from my memory that I saw in the RGV at the Sabal Palm Sanctuary, but I haven't done any in-depth ID.  I do know that there are some invasive Leucaena around, I read an article recently where they were trying to remove some of them from Padre Island National Seashore.

I have seen what I believe to L. leuccocephala around the port in Corpus.  In my opinion, most other Leucaena in CC are pulverulenta.  But who knows.  I like pulverulenta, it has a great tropical look and is fast growing.  Not exactly the most cold hardy tree.  Most on the island had significant damage from 22f low in 2021.  Few died, but most regrew fine.  It is a bit weedy.  Am always pulling up saplings from under my established trees.  I generally like them as a grove of them reminds me of my trips to Central America. There are usually some of warblers flitting around and the cicadas and other insects can be deafening at times.