The manure tree

That’s its name in Kannada – gobra soppu, meaning manure leaf. Which made me think it must be an indigenous tree. But to my surprise, I found that Gliricidia Sepium comes from Mexico and Central America. Like our own honge (Pongal pinnata) and Agathi (Sesbania grandiflora), it is a nitrogen fixing plant of the family Fabaceae.

Honge grows wild and wildly in our area, but we are trying to cultivate the other two, with limited success. Now the two surviving Gliricidias are flowering for the first time, and they are beautiful!

I was planning to chop some of its leaves and add them to the hot compost pile that is this week’s project, but now I don’t have the heart. Keep your hair on, amazing tree!