Agroforestree database This database provides detailed information on a total of 670 agroforestry tree species. It is intended to help field workers and researchers in selecting appropriate species for agroforestry systems and technologies. For each species, the database includes information on identity, ecology and distribution, propagation and management, functional uses, pests and diseases and a bibliography. This project has been funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID, the European Union and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). |
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| Acacia angustissima | Although A. angustissima may not grow into a large tree, it can be extremely valuable for use as pioneer species for rejuvenating degraded lands, and as a nurse crop for more-valuable tree species. |
| Acacia aulacocarpa | A popular tree species in the reforestation of poor soils. |
| Acacia auriculiformis | The spreading, densely-matted root system stabilizes eroding land. Its rapid early growth, even on infertile sites, and tolerance of both highly acidic and alkaline soils make it popular for stabilizing and revegetating mine spoils. |
| Acacia crassicarpa | The tree can be planted for weed control and is often cited as an effective species for the rehabilitation of land infested with Imperata cylindrica. In Papua New Guinea, it is reported to be a very vigorous colonizer of degraded soils following shifting cultivation. Although suitable for planting for land reclamation, it is too competitive to grow in combination with annual crops. |
| Acacia glauca | It is mainly used to rehabilitate degraded and denuded lands. |
| Acacia holosericea | Grows fast, has a dense crown, fixes nitrogen and has vigorous colonizing characteristics. These make it ideal for revegetation and restoration of degraded mining sites and fixation of sand dunes. |
| Acacia karroo | It is universally accepted for use as a rehabilitation plant in degraded sites and dunes. It flushes when the temperatures are highest and before the rains, when there is a great need for shade to reduce soil temperatures. |
| Acacia koa | Most A. koa plantations in Hawaii have been established to provide vegetative cover on sites degraded by decades of intense grazing. |
| Acacia leptocarpa | The high biomass produced by the tree indicates great potential for use in improved fallows and other agroforestry systems. |
| Acacia leucophloea | A. leucophloea is a good reforestation species for poor soils in low rainfall areas. |
| Acacia melanoxylon | A. melanoxylon grows well on residue from tin sluicing operations. |
| Acacia nilotica subsp nilotica | In India, this species is used on degraded saline and alkaline soils. It grows well when irrigated with tannery effluent and colonizes coal mine waste heaps. Over 50 % of the Chambal ravines in India have been revegetated with A. n. ssp. nilotica. |
| Acacia pennatula | A. pennatula is a hardy, frost resistant species with potential use in dry habitats. |
| Acacia saligna | In Australia it has been used in the rehabilitation of sand mining areas. |
| Acrocarpus fraxinifolius | Very good for reforestation of open areas. |
| Ailanthus altissima | The tree has been used to cover bare alpine slopes. |
| Albizia amara | This is a very good species for afforestation of degraded hilly areas in dry and semi-arid tracts in mixture with other species such as Acacia catechu, A. planifrons, Anogeissus latifolia and Azadirachta indica. |
| Albizia chinensis | As a fast growing tree legume, A. chinensis remains important in the reforestation of degraded land. |
| Albizia julibrissin | Withstands drought and can adapt well in arid conditions. In Korea Republic the silk tree is a recommended native species for revegetation of felled forest slopes. |
| Albizia odoratissima | It is used in afforestation programmes. |
| Albizia procera | Popular for the rehabilitation of seasonally dry, eroded and degraded soils. Its ability to grow on dry, sandy, stony and shallow soils makes it a useful species for afforestation of difficult sites. |
| Albizia zygia | Has a high potential for ameliorating degraded cocoa soils. The species also exhibits characteristics of drought avoidance. |
| Alnus acuminata | Useful for reforestation, soil reclamation on slopes and reclamation of unstable soils, as it grows well on slopes and the roots are lateral and extended rather than deep and confined. |
| Alnus japonica | It has been planted in reforestation for mine reclamation. |
| Alnus nepalensis | Effectively used to reforest abandoned taungya areas because it grows as a pioneer in degraded habitats with low fertility soils. It is also planted to improve the stability of slopes liable to erosion and landslides, and for mine reclamation. |
| Alnus rubra | The tree is used to rehabilitate infertile and industrially disturbed sites such as coal mine spoils in the USA, and areas of poor drainage. |
| Anacardium occidentale | Because of its extreme tolerance of external conditions, it has been planted in poor soils to check erosion. |
| Anthocephalus cadamba | A. kadamba is suitable for reforestation programmes. |
| Antidesma bunius | A. bunius has occasionally been employed in reforestation projects. |
| Araucaria cunninghamii | A. cunnighamii is potentially capable of being an important plantation enrichment planting species in Africa and tropical America. |
| Argania spinosa | The argan tree has a fundamental role in the ecological balance. It maintains soils with its roots, insures their fertility and protects them from the erosion which threatens a vast part of the land. Moreover, it facilitates water infiltration and aquifer replenishment. Argan woodlands form a green belt or functions as a buffer against desert advancement in southern Morocco. |
| Artocarpus integer | A. integer is well suited for reforestation in association with other species such as Tectona grandis (in India) and Eucalyptus platyphylla (in Java). |
| Azadirachta excelsa | The sentang shows potential for plantation establishment and can be used in reforestation and afforestation programmes. |
| Bertholletia excelsa | There are some attempts to use the species in poor pasture, initially as a shade tree and eventually as a revegetation material. |
| Bischofia javanica | B. javanica is used for afforestation. |
| Boscia angustifolia | The shrub readily establishes itself in adverse conditions and has potential for reclaiming degraded sites. |
| Boswellia serrata | The tree is a suitable species for afforestation on poorer soils in areas with a mean annual rainfall of 500-1 250 mm. It is valuable for reclothing dry sandstone hills which have been denuded of vegetation, where soil is markedly ferruginous and where complete protection against biotic factors is not always feasible. Under such circumstances, its ability to withstand the adverse effects of forest fires, its immunity to being browsed or lopped for fodder, its power of resisting the effects of insolation and drought, and its capacity for reproduction by seed, coppice and root suckers are great assets. |
| Bruguiera gymnorhiza | Ecologically, the trees are important in maintaining and building the soil. They play a significant role in coastal stabilization, promoting land accretion, fixation of mud banks and improving soil conditions so that other plants can take root. |
| Cadaba farinosa | Used in sand dune stabilization. |
| Caesalpinia velutina | Aripin is used for reforestation. |
| Canarium schweinfurthii | The tree has been planted for reforestation in Uganda. |
| Cassia grandis | The tree is recommended for revegetation in especially periodically flooded areas. |
| Casuarina equisetifolia | Grows vigorously on barren, polluted sites and thrives in deep sandy soils. Colonizes sterile tin tailings. |
| Casuarina glauca | Has a rapid colonizing ability on disturbed soils, especially in coastal or salt affected situations. |
| Casuarina junghuhniana | Rehabilitates degraded soils. In Java the species has been cultivated in revegetation and rehabilitation programmes dating back to the beginning of the 1900s. It is especially good as a pioneer on landslide-prone soils. In the low lying acid sulphate areas of Southeast Asia and North Australia, C. junghuhniana is grown successfully. |
| Cedrus deodara | It’s a good re-vegetation species |
| Ceratonia siliqua | Since it requires little if any cultivation, tolerates poor soils and is long lived, C. siliqua is often recommended for reforestation of degraded coastal zones threatened by soil erosion and desertification. |
| Chamaecytisus palmensis | Tagasaste helps control salinization and reclaim wastelands. |
| Citrus maxima | Pummelo growers in southeastern Asia sometimes reclaim swampy land, dig the ditches and canals for drainage, and build the raised beds where pummelo is planted |
| Colophospermum mopane | Useful in stabilizing dry, alkaline soils. It is listed as one of the tree species used in sand-dune stabilization in India. |
| Crossopteryx febrifuga | Crossopteryx has a higher intrinsic resistance to fire (bark properties), a 20-mm diameter stem of Crossopteryx survives exposure to 650 deg C, and can withstand frequent fires. |
| Crotalaria trichotoma | C. trichotoma performs better on degraded and compacted soils than other green manure crops and can be used for reclamation. |
| Cryptomeria japonica | It is used widely for afforestation purposes. |
| Cunninghamia lanceolata | It is suitable for reforestation in subtropical evergreen, coniferous and mixed broad-leaved forests |
| Dalbergia sissoo | Due to its vigorous reproduction through suckers, it is useful for stabilizing eroding sites. It is therefore found in a variety of wastelands, like in south Asia, where it is known as a colonizing species. |
| Delonix elata | D. elata is a good tree for reforestation of difficult sites. |
| Derris microphylla | The tree establishes well on poor soils and may be used for reclamation. |
| Dichrostachys cinerea | Owing to its strong capacity for natural regeneration, it has high potential for ravine afforestation and other soil conservation purposes on difficult sites. |
| Dipterocarpus alatus | In Thailand the taungya reforestation method has been practiced primarily in order to rehabilitate wasteland with this tree. |
| Dodonaea angustifolia | Widely used in arid areas to bind sand or reclaim marshes, an excellent choice for sand dune fixation and erosion control. |
| Elaeis guineensis | Oil palm is a good crop for rehabilitating degraded areas. In Sumatra it has successfully been established on abandoned farmlands taken over by Imperata cylindrica. |
| Endospermum malaccense | Sesendok is used in reforestation or may be used in enrichment planting. |
| Entandrophragma utile | E. utile is used in afforestation in Cote d’Ivoire. |
| Erythrina fusca | The feasibility of using E. fusca in reforestation projects in the tropics as a nurse tree for other tree species is an alternative that can be explored. |
| Erythrina sandwicensis | E. sandwicensis is used in revegetation programs of highly eroded areas in Hawaii. |
| Eucalyptus citriodora | E. citriodora is planted for reforestation. |
| Eucalyptus deglupta | E. deglupta is capable of colonizing land eroded by landslides and areas of recent volcanic activity. It has been used in reforestation and in enriching planting trials in logged-over forest, where it has shown considerable potential. |
| Eucalyptus globulus ssp. globulus | E. globulus ssp. globulus has served well in land reclamation, including reclaiming swamps. |
| Eucalyptus maculata | The tree is used in afforestation. |
| Eucalyptus pellita | Recommended for afforestation of coastal lands. |
| Eucalyptus saligna | E. saligna is used in reforestation. |
| Eucalyptus tereticornis | A suitable species in reforestation programmes. |
| Eucalyptus urophylla | E. urophylla is increasingly being used in reforestation programmes. |
| Euclea divinorum | Because of its tolerance of high arsenic soil levels E. divinorum can be used in reclamation of gold mine pit wastes. |
| Eugenia stipitata | Even though E. stipitata is a relatively slow grower, it is a suitable species for rehabilitating exhausted land. |
| Euphorbia tirucalli | E. tirucalli is very drought resistant and efficient in photosynthesis because of its unique photosynthetic physiology combining both the Crassulacean acid metabolism and the C3 pathways. It can be used in land reclamation programmes. In Zimbabwe plantations of E. tirucalli have succeeded in some instances at <5 000 p.p.m. in arsenic mine spoil mounds. |
| Faidherbia albida | The plant's spreading root system offers excellent protection to the banks of watercourses. |
| Gevuina avellana | It is a pioneer species tolerating situations occasioned by sun, wind and frost; qualities which can be exploited for reclaiming sites where top soil has been destroyed. |
| Ginkgo biloba | This tree is hardy, surviving polluted environments remarkably. Ginkgo is a suitable tree for urban forestry. |
| Gliricidia sepium | G. sepium has been planted to reclaim denuded land or land infested with Imperata cylindrica. |
| Gmelina arborea | G. arborea is a highly light-demanding species and regenerates naturally only in the open and on the edge of forests. It is an ideal choice for large-scale afforestation programmes. |
| Gnetum gnemon | It is possible to use this tree for dryland rehabilitation and afforestation. It can survive annual rainfall of 750-1000 mm |
| Gonystylus bancanus | In Kalimantan, seedlings are used in enrichment planting. |
| Grevillea robusta | G. robusta is a pioneering colonizer of disturbed sites. |
| Grewia tenax | With regard to its sturdy growth habit, G. tenax seems promising as a dune fixing plant in desert reclamation. |
| Hippophae rhamnoides | Sea buckthorn shows a strong tolerance for toxic pollutants in the soil and air. It can thus be used to revegetate heavily industrialized areas or to reclaim mining sites. With its hardy drought resisting attributes, this species is ideal for afforestating marginal areas. |
| Hopea odorata | The species is used for reforestation in Southeast Asia. |
| Hyeronima alchorneoides | H. alchorneoides is among several species that have shown potential for growth on a variety of soils, indicating its suitability for use in re-vegetation of degraded lands. This species has a relatively high allocation to fine roots, making it less likely to experience nutrient limitation under low-fertility conditions. In addition to its tolerance to infertile soils, it grows on acid soils and has a high tolerance for exchangeable aluminium. |
| Illicium verum | It is widely planted in areas for rehabilitation |
| Inga edulis | In trial experiments on cultivated slopes, I. edulis mulch reduced soil erosion to levels almost equal to those in secondary forests. |
| Intsia bijuga | Ipil can be used to reclaim land degraded by gulley erosion. |
| Khaya senegalensis | It largely reproduces itself from suckers and is recommended for reforestation purposes. |
| Lagerstroemia speciosa | The tree has been used in reforestation of degraded hills in Java. |
| Lansium domesticum | The tree is used in reforestation of hilly areas. |
| Leucaena diversifolia | In reforestation schemes, it is planted for soil amelioration and stabilization. |
| Leucaena leucocephala | L. leucocephala thrives on steep slopes and in marginal areas with extended dry seasons, making it a prime candidate for restoring forest cover, watersheds and grasslands. |
| Lovoa trichilioides | It is being promoted in afforestation programmes in Uganda. |
| Madhuca latifolia | Mahua is planted on wasteland with hard lateritic soils in India. |
| Maesopsis eminii | It is used for reforestation purposes, especially in Zaire. |
| Mallotus philippensis | It readily colonizes fertile soils. |
| Melaleuca quinquenervia | M. quinquenervia is an ideal species for revegetating denuded soils. |
| Metroxylon sagu | Sago palm has been planted in buffer zones as a method of rehabilitating degraded lands, for instance the coastal plains of Indonesia where thousands of hectares of land had been abandoned. |
| Michelia champaca | The tree is used to reforest badly eroded areas in Java. |
| Millettia dura | This species is fast growing and drought resistant once established a good candidate for afforestation endeavours. |
| Mimosa scabrella | As a pioneer species, it established pure, dense stands throughout vast areas in Brazil’s Parana area after the native forests (Araucaria angustifolia) were cut and burned, indicating its reforestation potential. |
| Morus alba | Grown on wastelands. |
| Myrianthus arboreus | Can be planted in damp/ swampy soils. |
| Nauclea orientalis | N. orientalis is a hardy species with dryland reclamation potential. |
| Nuxia congesta | This is a hardy species suitable for marginal areas and rocky soils. |
| Olea europaea ssp. africana | The high drought tolerance of O. europaea ssp. africana suggests that it is a good candidate for reforestation in semi-arid zones of Africa such as Rora Habab, Eritrea. |
| Opuntia ficus-indica | Planting shrubs and particularly cacti is one of the easiest to rehabilitate degraded landscapes. Cacti, because of their easy establishment by vegetative propagation, are amenable to the rehabilitation of lands that could not be reclaimed through conventional agricultural methods because of their steep slope and other physical factor limitations. In Tunisia and Algeria for instance, stony and rocky slope have been rehabilitated by planting cacti on contours. |
| Orbignya phalerata | The babassu palm has great potential for reforestation of degraded tropical ecosystems. Although it is somewhat slow going, taking 15 to 20 years to mature, once established in an area it is an extremely aggressive component of the ecosystem. As such, it could be introduced into many degraded sites, providing support for the soil, food and shade to the local animal population, and products to the humans. |
| Paraserianthes falcataria | Plantations of P. falcataria have been established even on tailings left after tin mining. It is planted extensively for reforestation and afforestation of denuded and eroding land. |
| Parkinsonia aculeata | Useful for reclamation of wastelands, gullied areas and mining spoil. |
| Paulownia imperialis | Its tenacity in rooting and its tolerance of rocky, disturbed and relatively infertile soils boosts its potential use in reclamation of surface mines, for example in Kentucky, USA. |
| Paulownia tomentosa | In the USA, for instance, it seems well adapted to harsh micro-climates on surface mines and may aid in the reclamation of such sites. |
| Peltophorum dasyrhachis | Its use in the reclamation of Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeuschel grasslands is being tested; in Indonesia and Malaysia, young trees planted in tall Imperata grasland and left untended after planting remained alive, but grew slowly. |
| Peltophorum pterocarpum | P. pterocarpum is a fast-growing tree with potential use for reforestation |
| Pentaclethra macroloba | It has been used to rehabilitate over exploited savanna areas in Africa due to its rapid regeneration and coppicing ability. |
| Phoenix dactylifera | Being a halophytic species, P. dactylifera has been used for decades for the revegetation of salt affected lands in the Mediterranean region. |
| Piliostigma malabaricum | In the Philippines the tree is used in fire breaks and for the afforestation of drylands. |
| Piliostigma thonningii | Fixes nitrogen. |
| Pinus caribaea | In Sri Lanka a massive reforestation programme was undertaken with plantations of P. caribaea to convert heavily eroded lands on which nothing else could be grown. It is the only species so far successfully used to clothe barren eroded and denuded lands with a tree cover. |
| Pistacia integerrima | P. integerrima can be used in wasteland afforestation programmes. |
| Pithecellobium dulce | Since it can grow on waste and denuded lands, P. dulce can afforest and conserve poor soils. |
| Podocarpus falcatus | For use in re-forestation it is a species needing special treatment to ensure satisfactory seed germination but maintains good form in a range of planting situations. |
| Pongamia pinnata | Because it tolerates moderate levels of salinity, pongam is an ideal candidate for recovering a variety of wastelands such as saline soil reclamation. It is also used in reforestation of marginal land. |
| Populus euphratica | Due to its salt tolerance, it is the main species for afforestation of saline soils in sandy desert regions, for example in Mongolia, China. |
| Prosopis cineraria | The trees are planted for sand dune stabilization and reclamation. |
| Prosopis juliflora | Widely planted for land reclamation because it is an aggressive colonizer, tolerant of very poor, degraded, saline and alkaline soils. In the USA, aerial seeding of a mixture of P. juliflora, Nicotania glauca and several Eucalyptus species is used to revegetate abandoned copper mines. |
| Prosopis tamarugo | The potential value of the tamarugo was noted as early as 1918 when Maldonado, a forest inspector called for a tamarugo forest preserve, considering it most important for the Chilean desert. It has the promise for reforesting deserts, especially those with thick surface-salt encrustation. Man-made tamarugo plantations are being introduced in the Tamarugal Pampa which are transforming the absolute desert ecosystem into an agro-ecosystem. The result, is a noteworthy increase in overall productivity in one of the most inhospitable regions of the world. |
| Pterogyne nitens | Grows in a range of climatic and soil conditions and can be used in rehabilitation and reclamation projects. |
| Punica granatum | P. granatum is a drought tolerant tree suitable for arid and semi-arid zone afforestation. A resilient tree whose withering is mentioned as the judgement of God upon evil on the earth. |
| Quercus humboldtii | In the mid-Andean montane region of Colombia, reforestation programmes use the native species for revegetation such as Quercus humboldtii, Billia columbiana, Alnus acuminata and Beilschmiedia sulcata. |
| Rhododendron arboreum | R. arboreum readily colonizes newly disturbed ground such as road cuttings and landslides and in the crevices of bare rocks. |
| Robinia pseudoacacia | Rapid growth, dense wood and nitrogen-fixing ability make it ideal for colonizing degraded sites. The tree is used extensively to rehabilitate surface mine tailings and to stabilize road banks and mine spoils. |
| Salvadora oleoides | S. oleoides has potential for reclamation as it regenerates freely by root suckers. |
| Salvadora persica | Planted in sand dune reclamation and also useful for reclaiming saline soils. |
| Sandoricum koetjape | The species is hardy and thrives without irrigation in areas with a prolonged dry season. |
| Sapindus mukorossi | The tree has proved successful in the afforestation of eroded hill slopes at elevations below 900 m in the western Himalayas. |
| Schima wallichii | S. wallichii is useful for reforestation and in water conservation in catchment areas. |
| Schinus terebinthifolius | S. terebinthifolius has a high ecological plasticity, a short life cycle and very rapid growth; it is therefore recommended for the restoration of degraded areas and especially gallery forests. |
| Schinziophyton rautanenii | Has potential use in desert encroachment prevention and sand dune stabilization. Its hardiness makes it ideal for arid land reclamation. |
| Senna siamea | Used extensively for rehabilitation of degraded land, for example, to re-vegetate aluminium mine tailings. |
| Sesbania bispinosa | The tree is capable of growing in soils where few or no other crops can grow, such as alkaline or saline soils of low fertility and poor texture. It therefore plays a role in the reclamation of such soils. |
| Sesbania grandiflora | S. grandiflora is ideal for rehabilitating eroded hills. |
| Shorea negrosensis | S. negrosensis has potential in reforestation. |
| Simmondsia chinensis | It is used for revegetation of arid areas as it can survive in harsh desert environments; this is so in Mexico and Israel. |
| Spathodea campanulata | S. campanulata helps rehabilitate disturbed lands through its quick invasion and rapid growth. |
| Sterculia urens | It is useful for reclaiming bare, rocky land. |
| Styrax tonkinensis | It was used to restore eroded soils |
| Swietenia humilis | Dry zone mahogany is a suitable candidate for dryland forestation programmes. |
| Swietenia macrophylla | S. macrophylla has been used in reforestation projects and has proved to be suitable in areas not protected from grazing. |
| Syzygium cuminii | S. cuminii is successfully planted in waterlogged areas. |
| Tabebuia donnell-smithii | The seeding characteristic can be exploited for reclamation of disturbed sites. |
| Tarchonanthus camphoratus | The camphor tree is drought and fire resistant and can be used to reclaim drylands. |
| Tephrosia candida | The species is suitable for rehabilitating degraded land. |
| Terminalia arjuna | Arjan is usually used in agro and social forestry for reclamation of saline, alkaline soils and deep ravines as well as in sand dune afforestation programmes with Casuarina species. |
| Terminalia catappa | Terminalia catappa is tolerant of drought and salt spray and is a promising species for reforestation of sandy areas. |
| Toona ciliata | T. ciliata has been planted for reforestation. |
| Trema orientalis | A common pioneer species, it is one of the first to become established on poor soils to reforest denuded or disturbed areas. Seeds germinate readily and growth is rapid so it is widely planted for soil reclamation. |
| Vitex negundo | The shrub can be used for afforestation, especially for reclamation of forestlands which are affected by floods, and in arid areas. |
| Vitex parviflora | It is planted in reforestation projects in the Philippines. |
| Vitex pubescens | The tree has been used in reclaiming imperata grasslands in Asia. |
| Ziziphus mauritiana | Can withstand severe heat, frost and drought; hence it is planted in dry areas and on sites unfit for other crops. |
| Zizyphus nummularia | It has proved successful in sand dune stabilization in India. |
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