You are currently viewing a new version of our website. To view the old version click .
  • International Journal of Plant Biology is published by MDPI from Volume 13 Issue 1 (2022). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by MDPI on mdpi.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with PAGEPress.
  • Article
  • Open Access

16 November 2020

The Paradox of the Alien Plant Leucaena leucocephala subsp. glabrata (Rose) S. Zárate in Sicily: Another Threat for the Native Flora or a Valuable Resource?

,
,
,
,
and
1
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 13 Ed.4, Ingr. H, 90128 Palermo, Italy
2
Institute of BioSciences and BioResources (IBBR), Italian National Research Council (CNR), Unit of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
3
Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies—STEBICEF—University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract

With this contribution, an updated picture of the rapid expansion of Leucaena leucocephala subsp. glabrata in Sicily is provided. On the one hand, this is a quite worrying sign, as this woody species figures among the world’s worst invasive alien species. On the other hand, the species shows interesting potential for production purposes (for wood, biomass and for feeding livestock), also considering its nitrogen fixation ability. Consequently, the two opposite options to cope with this species, i.e. cultivation and control/eradication, should accurately take into account the possible uses as well as its invasive behaviou.

Article Metrics

Citations

Article Access Statistics

Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.