Mimosa (Leucaena leucocephala)

← Back to the species catalog

Identidad taxonómica

Scientific name: Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit
Canonical name: The scientific name without its authorship or date, for example Zea mays instead of Zea mays L.: Leucaena leucocephala
Authorship: The author or authors credited with publishing the scientific name. It is written after the name, sometimes with the year, for example L. (Linnaeus) in Zea mays L. An author in parentheses first published the name in another genus or rank.: (Lam.) de Wit
Common names: Mimosa, Horse/wild tamarind, Jumbie bean, Lead tree, Leucaena, Tan Tan, Tantan Tree, White leadtree, Wild Tamarind, coffeebush, horse-tamarind, ipil-ipil, jumbie-bean, leadtree, leucaena, sneakytree, vi-vi, white popinac, Tantan, acacia, cowbush, jimbay, jumbie bean, jump-and-go, wild mimosa
Names in other languages (106)
Acacia, Faux-acacia, Leucaena, Ada Mimozası, Aju renni, Aromer blanc, Bonaramantsina, Chamba, Faux-Mimosa, Garote di San José, Graines de lin, Guaje blanco, Guaje colorado, Lamtoro, Leucena, Leucéna, Leucéna à têtes blanches, Leucéna à têtes blanches, Cassi, Cassie, Cassie blanc, Tamarin cheval, Zacassi, Lino criollo, Mimosa a fiori pallidi, Mimosa blanc, Mimosa, faux mimosa, Palo Maria, Sari mugu, Stuipboom, Tangantangan, Telengtungd, Tepeguaje dormilón, Tikroji baltva, Tumba Rabu, Tumba-rabu, Weißkopfmimose, Witte mimosa, acacia palida, aroma blanca, aroma mansa, aromo blanco, atiko, balori, batilís, bo chet, cassie, cassis, ekoa, false koa, faux mimosa, faux-acacia, fua pepe, ganitnityuwan tangantan, granadillo bobo, guaje, guaslim, guaxin, harilik leukeena, horse/wild tamarind, huaxin, ipil ipil, kan thin, kanthum thect, koa haole, koa-haole, kra thin, kratin, lead tree, leucaena de cabezuelas blancas, leucéna bielohlavá, liliak, lopa samoa, lusina, lyijypuu, monval, nito, pepe, reusewattel, rohbohtin, schemu, siale mohemohe, subabul, tamarindo silvestre, tangan-tangan, te kaitetua, telentund, tuhngantuhngan, uaxim, vaivai, vaivai dina, vaivai ni vavalangi, vild tamarinde, yin he huan, zarcilla, Âtiko, acacia, Левкена білоголова, Леуцена светлоголовчатая, צחר כחלחל, شجرة الرصاص البيضاء, شجيرة القهوة, ইপিল ইপিল, સુબાવળ, กระถิน, กระถินยักษ์, ตนผักกระถิน, ギンゴウカン, ギンネム, 灰金合歡, 金丝刷, 銀合歡, 银合欢, Tumbarabu
Kingdom: One of the broadest ranks of biological classification. It groups organisms that share very basic features, for example plants (Plantae), animals (Animalia) or fungi (Fungi).: Plantae
Phylum: Rank below kingdom that groups organisms with a shared general body plan, for example chordates (Chordata), arthropods (Arthropoda) or vascular plants (Tracheophyta). In botany the same rank is also called division.: Tracheophyta
Class: Rank below phylum, for example mammals (Mammalia), birds (Aves), insects (Insecta) or monocot plants such as grasses and orchids (Liliopsida).: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rank below class that groups related families, for example grasses and their relatives (Poales) or bats (Chiroptera).: Fabales
Family: Rank below order that groups related genera. Family names usually end in -aceae in botany (for example Poaceae, the grass family) and in -idae in zoology (for example Felidae, the cat family).: Fabaceae
Genus: Rank that groups closely related species. Its name is the first word of a species' scientific name and starts with a capital letter, for example Zea in Zea mays.: Leucaena
Specific epithet: The second word of a species' scientific name. On its own it does not name the species: it always goes with the genus, for example mays in Zea mays.: leucocephala
Taxonomic rank: The level a name occupies in the hierarchy of biological classification, such as kingdom, family, genus, species or subspecies.: species
Reference species: Leucaena leucocephala
Taxonomic status: Whether the taxonomic catalogue the record comes from currently accepts this name for the organism, or treats it as a synonym of another accepted name or as doubtful.: accepted name

Photos and conservation status

IUCN Red List category: The extinction-risk category that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assigns to a species on its Red List. EX Extinct: there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. EW Extinct in the wild: it survives only in cultivation, in captivity or as a population far outside its past range. CR Critically endangered, EN Endangered and VU Vulnerable: the three threatened categories, from an extremely high to a high risk of extinction in the wild. NT Near threatened: close to qualifying as threatened. LC Least concern: evaluated and not threatened. DD Data deficient: there is not enough information to assess its risk. NE Not evaluated: not yet assessed against the criteria. It describes the risk of the species worldwide, not its situation in a project's area.: Not evaluated (NE)
Source: IUCN Red List via GBIF, queried on 2026-10-09 05:17.

Photo of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit — Photo: mattmsa · CC BY 4.0 · View original image · Original observation

Research-grade iNaturalist observations via GBIF, CC0 or CC BY licences only, queried on 2026-10-09 05:17.

Interacciones documentadas

GloBI says it is documented somewhere in the world. Biolitica answers whether it could happen here.

A documented interaction means it was recorded somewhere in the world. It does not mean it occurs here.

Types shown: 1 of 14 has its flowers visited by × 13 more types with data for this species

Flower visit

has its flowers visited by 7 organisms

The authority declares no effect on this species for this term: neither that it harms it nor that it benefits it. Visiting a flower is not pollinating it. «Pollinates» is a different term and a different block, and merging the two is the measured defect that turned ~88 shared «pollinators» into birds and primates.

Organism	Reads as	Studies	Where it was documented	Actions
European Honey Bee Apis mellifera Apidae	has its flowers visited by	6	not compared
6 sources · 15 records Cyrille, N., Lelièvre, Y., Dumbardon-Martial, E. et al. Wild insect flower visitor assemblages and resource use in tropical gardens: driven by floral offer, modulated by honeybees. Biodivers Conserv 35, 213 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-026-03395-9. Accessed at <https:/… Published in globalbioticinteractions/cyrille2026 Record contexts (sample): Martinique · 0023-10-09T00:00:00Z; Martinique · 0023-10-09T00:00:00Z https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/355675073 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · April 27, 2026 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141200272 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Nov. 5, 2022 · Human observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152056674 Published in globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist Context: no place published · Feb. 17, 2023 · Human observation Olesen, J. M., L. I. Eskildsen, and S. Venkatasamy. 2002. Invasion of pollination networks on oceanic islands: importance of invader complexes and endemic super generalists. Diversity and Distributions 8:181-192. Published in millerse/Plant-Pollinator-Web Context: Mauritian Ile aux Aigrettes · no date published Records of organisms other than plants having flower visitors are probably errors Published in globalbioticinteractions/refuted-biotic-interactions-by-eol Context: no place published · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Soldierfly Stratiomyidae	has its flowers visited by	2	no location	Not a modelling unit: the source publishes it at family level.
2 sources · 2 records Olesen, J. M., L. I. Eskildsen, and S. Venkatasamy. 2002. Invasion of pollination networks on oceanic islands: importance of invader complexes and endemic super generalists. Diversity and Distributions 8:181-192. Published in millerse/Plant-Pollinator-Web Context: Mauritian Ile aux Aigrettes · no date published Records of organisms other than plants having flower visitors are probably errors Published in globalbioticinteractions/refuted-biotic-interactions-by-eol Context: no place published · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
Ornate Day Gecko Phelsuma ornata Gekkonidae	has its flowers visited by	2	no location
2 sources · 2 records Olesen, J. M., L. I. Eskildsen, and S. Venkatasamy. 2002. Invasion of pollination networks on oceanic islands: importance of invader complexes and endemic super generalists. Diversity and Distributions 8:181-192. Published in millerse/Plant-Pollinator-Web Context: Mauritian Ile aux Aigrettes · no date published Records of organisms other than plants having flower visitors are probably errors Published in globalbioticinteractions/refuted-biotic-interactions-by-eol Context: no place published · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.
West African Slender-Stingless Bee Dactylurina staudingeri Apidae	has its flowers visited by	1	no location
1 source · 1 record Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World. Second Edition. 953 pp. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London Published in globalbioticinteractions/Catalogue-of-Afrotropical-Bees Context: no place published · no date published A published relationship says these two taxa were documented interacting. It does not say how often, or that it happens in this project's region.

Showing 4 of 7, by number of studies See more of this type

Interaction data from Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI), GloBI 0.11. Each row keeps the citation its own study published.

Interactions are published at species level: they are not resolved by variety or race.

Each block is headed by the source's own term, read from this species' end — not by a category of ours. Two similar terms are not merged.

«Documented here» means the interaction was observed in this territory. It is not evidence that the species is here, and it does not enter the niche model.

Acompañantes documentados

This agronomic reading comes from a source reserved for internal use, so it is not shown here.

Documented uses and recommendations

Uses and recommendations that a source documents for this species beside a crop, each in its own context. They are the source's statements, not traits of the species and not Biolítica's recommendations, and none of them is a relation between two species.

Not grouped under a navigation concept

What the source states	Claim type	Context	Source
Árbol nativo candidato de paisaje	Recommendation of a guideRecommended	coffee · Veracruz, México	Biolítica · compilación de café de CIE-10 sha256:e376ce4d636a
1 source · 1 record Flores-Ortiz et al. 2025 Context: coffee · Veracruz, México A guide's recommendation, in its own context. It is not a measurement and does not carry over to another crop or region.
Árbol con valoración local	Documented useAsserted	coffee · Veracruz, México	Biolítica · compilación de café de CIE-10 sha256:e376ce4d636a
1 source · 1 record Flores-Ortiz et al. 2025 Context: coffee · Veracruz, México A documented use says what the source records this species is used for, in that context. It is not a measurement and does not carry over to another crop or region.