Ipil-ipil
Leucaena leucocephala · White leadtree
- Names in the book
- Spanish: Santa Elena; Tagalog: Ipil-Ipil, Ipel; Ilocano: Ipil; Visayan: Agho, Aghog, Kabaluero, San Pedro, Loyloy
- Used for
- Worms
- Colours
- flowerwhite, creamfruitbrown
- Native range
- Southern Mexico and Central America
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Printed as
- Leucaena glauca L.
- Sources
- Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 86 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Leucaena leucocephala is a small fast-growing mimosoid tree native to southern Mexico and northern Central America (Belize and Guatemala). It is now naturalized throughout the tropics including parts of Asia. Common names include white leadtree, white popinac, horse tamarind, ipil-ipil, koa haole, tan-tan, and tangantangan. Leucaena leucocephala is used for a variety of purposes, such as fencing, soil fertility, firewood, fiber, and livestock fodder.
Excerpt from “Leucaena leucocephala” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Huwag itong ikalito sa isa pang punong ipil (ang Intsia bijuga). Ang ipil-ipil ay isang maliit na punong kilala rin bilang santa-elena (o santaelena). Sa agham, kilala ito bilang Leucaena glauca o Leucaena leucocephala. Ginagamit itong panggatong at sa mga gawaing kaugnay ng muling pagtatanim ng mga puno sa kagubatan, bilang tabing para sa mga halamang inaani, at bilang panggapi sa mga damong kugon.
Sipi mula sa “Ipil-ipil (Laucaena glauca)” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 405 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 51 provinces, most often Davao del Norte (58), Metropolitan Manila (35), Davao del Sur (27), Davao Oriental (19), Rizal (13), Bohol (10), Cebu (10), La Union (8), and 43 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- Worm infestationSeeds eaten raw, or toasted and powdered in milk or water.For roundworm. Children may eat the raw seeds of 5 fresh pods, repeated after a week if nothing happens. Otherwise toast 1 cup of dried seeds in a dry pan without burning them, powder them and mix with milk or water. Adults take 1 teaspoon two hours after supper. Children 7 to 9 a quarter teaspoon, 10 to 12 half a teaspoon. May be repeated after a week.Page 44
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Ipil-ipil” on page 86. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Effects of nitrogen regulation on heavy metal phytoextraction efficiency (Leucaena leucocephala): Application of a nitrogen fertilizer and a fungal agent
- Anthelmintic Effect of Leucaena leucocephala Extract and Its Active Compound, Mimosine, on Vital Behavioral Activities in Caenorhabditis elegans
- Antihyperglycemic Potential of Quercetin-3-glucoside Isolated from Leucaena leucocephala Seedpods via the SIRT1/AMPK/GLUT4 Signaling Cascade