No caption JUMBIE bean, Leucaena glauca , is known locally as wild mimosa and acacia, in the Bahamas as jimbay, cow-bush and jump-and-go, and in Hawaii as the lead-tree, wild tamarind and aroma blanca.

It is native to Tropical America and is naturalised in Bermuda where it can be seen along roadsides and in uncultivated land such as Walsingham nature reserve where it forms dense thickets. Leuc is the Greek word root for white, and glauc grey, bluish-grey, referring to the leaves. Jumbie bean is a shrub or small tree with a tall, single trunk. The leaves are made up of many leaflets, like a poinciana. The creamy-white flowers look like a powder-puff and are on the plant much of the year. The pods, held in clusters, look like broad and very flat beans with raised edges. They look very effective in Christmas wreaths.

The flat, oval seeds are dark brown and in Hawaii are strung for leis, purses, and table mats. In the West Indies both pods and seeds are eaten with rice. In Tropical America horses, mules and pigs lose their hair if they eat any part of it; cattle and goats are not seriously affected. According to the late Jill Collett in her book Bermuda, Her Plants and Gardens , jumbie bean is used in Barbados to cure wind on the stomach, quiet nerves and treat heart trouble.

A pioneer plant that grows rapidly and colonises deforested areas, jumbie bean is grown as shade for coffee, and in the Philippines it is grown for charcoal.

In Indonesia it is used to reforest tree plantations where it controls erosion, resists drought, provides forage, firewood of high fuel value, timber, windbreaks and shade, and improves the soil.

For all these good points, jumbie bean still is not as good as the big forest trees it replaces. Jumbie bean is in Leguminosae, the pea and bean family, and is closely related to mimosa, tamarind, and calliandra and less closely to bauhinia, pride of Barbados, logwood, carob and tamarind.