English: White leadtree; Jumbay; River tamarind; Subabul; White popinac.
Thai: Phak krathin.
Region: southern Mexico, northern Central America, Belize, Guatemala; naturalized throughout the tropics, invasive in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Taiwan, Bahamas, Hawaiian Islands, Fiji, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, South America, Europe.
Content: mimosine, a toxic amino acid, lose their hair, metabolized by ruminants to goitrogenic DHP, 3-hydroxy-4(1H) pyridone; phenolic compounds, p-hydroxycinnamic acid, protocatechuic acid, gallic acid.
Use: miracle tree for its multiple uses; conflict tree, spreads like a weed; high-protein, quality animal food; young pods in Javanese vegetable salad; in soups and tacos in Mexico; young leaves, pods and flower buds, raw, steamed, in soups, with rice or mixed with chillies and other spices; seeds, raw or cooked, as a garnish, delicacy; seeds fermented into tempeh lamtoro and dageh lamtoro; dried seed, roasted as a coffee substitute; edible gum in sauces; green manure, biomass production; soil fertility;wood for firewood, charcoal; wood for fibers, paper industry, fencing.
BotanySmall, very fast-growing tree; grows quickly and forms dense thickets that crowd out all native vegetation; allelopathic; 8 meter tall in 3 years.
Fruits: orange-brown seedpods; 10 to 20 cm long, 1 to 2 cm wide; containing 8 - 18 seeds.