Tree lurcerne/Tagasaste, Chamaecytisus palmensis
Pictures: Forest & Kim Starr
Adult height: 5-8m
Description: Fast-growing fodder tree, evergreen, high in protein, can reach full potential in as little as 3-4 years, life expectancy 50 years, frost tolerant.
Tagasaste is just an all-round useful tree - it just can’t seem
to help being incredibly useful. High in protein with a high dry matter yield and easily propagated, it is used around the world to feed and shelter stock, stabilise soils and correct nitrogen levels.
It is a native of La Palma in the Canary Island group and is also known as Tree Lucerne, a nickname it picked up when it was first grown in Australia.
It is remarkably tolerant of most growing conditions (although it likes a free raining soil best), it can take a frost down as low as -10°C, is resistant to diseases and will quickly recover from complete defoliation.
The deep roots of tagasaste make it very drought tolerant and trials have shown it also puts up with high moisture levels through a wet winter.
It’s beautiful, prolific flowering tree that is good feed for bees and if it is allowed to grow unhindered it forms thick branches that are great firewood.
Hailing from a subfamily of legumes, it generally forms multiple stems and spreads out, providing ample leaves, making it great summer forage for sheep and cattle but rabbits, pigs, goats and poultry will also happily munch on it.
The most successful growth has been achieved in areas with wet winters and dry summers but tagasaste grows well from the deep of the South Island, north – farmers in Northern Australia use it to great effect.
Depending on the cultivar, you can plant tagasaste that don’t mind being up mountains, down at sea level, in near desert conditions or in soils with as diverse a pH as 5.0-7.0.
These trees are easy care too, with seedlings hardy enough to survive drought in their first year.
In Australia, tagasaste is grown in near-desert conditions as plantations and grown to about the height of a shrub. Cattle and sheep graze it directly through summer (usually on a rotational basis) even through years with no rain.
The nutritional value of the tree will vary depending on the conditions it is grown in, with mineral content falling in areas where soils are lacking. Generally though, tagasaste will contain a high level of protein, vitamins and minerals compared to pasture grown on the same soil.
While this tree is a great survivor, obviously the more you care for it, the more it will have to offer you, so a bit of fertiliser when it is young will encourage the deep rooting system that will bear you fruit further down the line.
More reading
The Potential of Tagasaste - Lincoln University
Tagasaste profile - NZ Plant Conservation Network (PDF)
Nadene Hall
NZ Lifestyle Block magazine