Kakawati
Also known as: Madre de cacao (Spanish common name) · Gliricidia (scientific shorthand) · Kakawate (alternate Filipino spelling)
Definition
Kakawati is the Filipino name for Gliricidia sepium, a medium-sized leguminous tree in the family Fabaceae known in Spanish as madre de cacao. Native from Mexico to Colombia but long naturalized throughout the Philippine countryside, it is the archetypal Filipino living-fence tree: cut stakes thrust into the ground simply sprout and grow. As a nitrogen-fixing multipurpose tree it supplies firewood, cattle fodder, green manure, erosion control, and shade, and its bark and leaves have traditional uses as a poison for rats and skin parasites. (Wikipedia)
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Gliricidia sepium |
| Wikidata | Q2717303 |
| DBpedia | Gliricidia_sepium |
| ProductOntology | N/A |
| Wiktionary | N/A |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) | Gliricidia sepium |
| MeSH | N/A |
| NCBI Taxonomy | Gliricidia sepium |
| AGROVOC | Gliricidia sepium |
| Google Scholar | Gliricidia sepium madre de cacao agroforestry fodder Philippines living fence |
| ConceptNet | tree |
| OpenCyc | N/A |
Also Known As
- Madre de cacao (Spanish common name)
- Gliricidia (scientific shorthand)
- Kakawate (alternate Filipino spelling)
Examples and Analogies
- The Fence That Refuses to Die: Mark your boundary with cut kakawati posts and the posts leaf out — a fence that grows stronger every rainy season instead of rotting.
- The Countryside’s Free Fertilizer Factory: Its roots host nitrogen-fixing bacteria, so rows of kakawati quietly feed the soil beside them like unpaid farmhands.
Usage Scenarios
1. Farm Boundary and Slope Stabilization
A upland farmer plants kakawati stakes along contour lines and property edges, clipping the hedge for goat fodder and firewood twice a year.
2. Shade and Green Manure in Cropping Systems
A cocoa grower interplants kakawati for shade, then prunings are slashed and spread as green manure to suppress weeds and return nitrogen to the soil.
Strategies
- Establish fences from mature cuttings at the onset of the rainy season for near-total strike rate at zero nursery cost.
- Manage as a pollarded hedge rather than a free-grown tree to balance firewood harvest, fodder access, and light for adjacent crops.
Security and Safety Measures
- Keep leaves and bark away from livestock other than as managed fodder — the plant is traditionally used as a rodenticide, and careless exposure can poison animals.
- Site plantings away from fish ponds, where fallen toxic material has historically been used to stun fish and can harm aquaculture stock.
Historical Context
Gliricidia sepium traveled from its Central American native range with the colonial plant exchanges that moved cacao and its shade trees together, earning the Spanish name madre de cacao — “mother of cacao” — for the shelter it gave plantation crops. In the Philippines it naturalized so thoroughly across farmland that today it reads as native, lining rice paddies and hillsides as the default fence tree, while agricultural programs continue to promote it in sloping-land and agroforestry systems. (Wikipedia)
Challenges and Controversies
Invasiveness Concerns
Outside its native range the species can spread beyond intended fence lines, and it appears on some invasive-species watch lists in other countries, prompting deliberate siting in plantings.
Toxicity in Traditional Use
Its effectiveness as a rat poison and fish stunner is exactly what makes casual use hazardous, and extension workers caution against untrained preparation.