Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth
Bulë́gli, Fence Post Tree, Nicaraguan cocoashade, Quickstick
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Gliricidia sepium, often simply referred to as gliricidia or by its Spanish common name madre de cacao, is a medium size leguminous tree belonging to the family Fabaceae. It is an important multi-purpose legume tree, with a native range from Mexico to Colombia, but now widely introduced to other tropical zones.
Text from Wikipedia, “Gliricidia sepium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Gliricidia
Gliricidia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae and tribe Robinieae. Its native range is Mexico to Peru, but Gliricidia sepium has been widely introduced to other tropical zones.
Text from Wikipedia, “Gliricidia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Gliricidia lambii Fernald; Gliricidia maculata (Kunth) Walp.; Gliricidia maculata Kunth; Gliricidia maculata var. multijuga Micheli; Gliricidia maculata var. multijuga Micheli ex Donn.Sm. and 9 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.9 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1161 mm of 1522 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 1.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1522 mm a year, wettest September at 220 mm, driest January at 23 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1522 mm a year at the habitat, 1161 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 220 mm, driest January at 23 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 996 mm to 2957 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 38 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 19.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 19.4 °C, the absolute minimum 17.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells 15.1 °C to 24.1 °C), warmest day 30.4 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 29 / 24–32 | 29 / 25–33 | 30 / 26–33 | 30 / 27–33 | 30 / 26–33 | 29 / 26–32 | 29 / 26–32 | 29 / 26–32 | 29 / 25–31 | 28 / 25–30 | 28 / 25–30 | 28 / 24–30 |
| Night °C | 21 / 15–24 | 22 / 16–25 | 22 / 16–25 | 23 / 18–25 | 23 / 19–25 | 23 / 18–25 | 23 / 18–25 | 23 / 18–25 | 23 / 18–25 | 23 / 18–25 | 22 / 17–24 | 22 / 16–24 |
| Rain mm | 23 / 6–114 | 24 / 6–115 | 37 / 5–164 | 88 / 14–234 | 176 / 51–332 | 183 / 116–353 | 176 / 115–354 | 198 / 139–364 | 220 / 153–428 | 208 / 98–401 | 136 / 27–285 | 53 / 11–172 |
| DLI | 33 / 25–36 | 36 / 30–39 | 38 / 34–43 | 37 / 32–45 | 33 / 29–43 | 33 / 28–39 | 34 / 30–40 | 34 / 30–39 | 32 / 29–36 | 30 / 27–34 | 29 / 25–33 | 30 / 24–33 |
| RH % | 63 / 55–68 | 61 / 54–67 | 61 / 54–67 | 64 / 55–69 | 66 / 57–71 | 67 / 61–71 | 67 / 60–70 | 67 / 61–71 | 68 / 63–72 | 68 / 62–72 | 67 / 60–72 | 65 / 57–70 |
Each figure is the median across the 398 grid cells holding the 901 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1590:1898 (10.475, -85.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 398 distinct grid cells holding the 901 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1590:1898 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 10.50_-85.000, lapse-corrected -181 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 200 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: Efra González, CC BY-SA, via GBIF (2); monkeyjodey, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF (4); Quentin Groom, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; Isaac Chacón, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF.
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Gliricidia sepium, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Tabebuia rosea Pink Poui
Enterolobium cyclocarpum Ear tree
Ceiba pentandra Kapok Tree
Crescentia cujete Calabash Tree
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius Elephant foot yam Pseudobombax maximum MalvaceaeHistory & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 15 wild photographs already from the GBIF downloadinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 147 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.






