Live Fence / Bio Fence / Natural Fence - A General List of Plants

As part of our Agriculture for Everybody blog series, we are going to see the General List of Plants used in Live / Bio Fence / Natural Fence as well as few Windbreakers.


The following list of plants can be utilized for Live / Bio Fence / Natural Fence and some of the large trees can be used as Windbreakers and it will better if the farmer goes for locally available material so as to reduce the expenses.  The below list will be updated as and when there are more data available.

S.No.	Botanical Name	Common Name	Tamil Name	Habit	Condition	Role
1	Acacia caesia (L.) Willd.			Climbing prickly shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
2	Acacia chundra Willd.			Small tree	Dried / Live	Mechanical barrier
2a	Acacia Concinna	Shikakai, Soap-pod		Climbing prickly shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
2aa	Acacia Mellifera	-	-	-	Live	Mechanical barrier
2b	Acacia nilotica subsp. indica	Gum Arabic, Babool	கறுவேளை		Live	Mechanical barrier
2c	Acacia nilotica ssp. Tomentosa	Tomentose Babool	கறுவேளை		Live	Mechanical barrier
3	Acacia sinuata (Lour.) Merr.			Prickly climbing shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
4	Acacia torta (Roxb.) Craib.			Prickly climbing shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
4a	Acalypha lanceolata	Indian Copperleaf, Indian acalypha	குப்பைமேனி		Live	Mechanical barrier
5	Adhatoda zeylanica Medikus.			Large shrub	Live	Planted on the boundary
6	Agave americana L.	Century Plant	யானைக் கற்றாழை	Stout shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
7	Agave sisalana Perr.ex Engelm.			Stout shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
8	Alangium salvifolium (L.f.) Wangerin ssp. hexapetalum (Lamk.) Wangerin			Large straggling shrub	Dried / Live	Mechanical barrier
8a	Aloe Vera	Aloe Vera	கற்றாழை		Live	Mechanical barrier
8b	Asparagus officinalis	AsparagAsparagus, Garden asparagusus, Garden asparagus			Live	Mechanical barrier
9	Bambusa arundinacea (Retz.) Roxb.			Large thorny bamboo	Dried / Live	Wind breaker
9a	Bambusa bambos	Indian Thorny Bamboo	பெருமூங்கில்	Large thorny bamboo	Dried / Live	Wind breaker
10	Barleria prionites L.			Spinous under shrub	Live	Prevents entry
10a	Berberis aristata	Indian Barberry	கஸ்தூரி மஞ்சள்	Spiny shrub	Live	Prevents entry
11	Bobax ceiba L.			Large tree	Live	Grown on boundaries
12	Borassus flabellifer L.			Tall palm	Dried leaf	Mechanical barrier
13	Bougainvillea x buttiana Holttum & Standey			Spinous climber	Dried/live	Mechanical barrier
14	Bougainvillea glabra Choisy.			Spinous climber	Dried/live	Mechanical barrier
15	Caesalpinia bonduc (L.) Roxb.			Scandent prickly shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
16	Caesalpinia mimosoides Lam.			Prickly scandent shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
16a	Caesalpinia pulcherrima	Peacock Flower			Live	Mechanical barrier
16b	Caesalpinia sappan	Sappan Wood		Small thorny tree	Live	Mechanical barrier
17	Canthium coromandelicum (Burm.f.) Alston			Stout spinous shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
18	Canthium rheedii DC.			Scandent spinous shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
19	Carissa carandas L.	Karanda	களா	Large armed shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
20	Carissa congesta Wight.			Large armed shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
21	Caryota urens L.			Tall palm	Dried leaf	Mechanical barrier
22	Casuarina equisetifolia L.			Large tree	Live	Wind breaker
23	Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Tirveng.			Large armed shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
24	Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn.			Large tree	Live	Planted on boundaries
25	Cereus peruvianus (L.) Mill.			Arborescent cactus	Live	Prevents entry
25a	Chrysopogon zizanioides		வெட்டிவேர்	Tall Grass	Live	Soil Erosion
25b	Citrus limon	Lemon, Nimbu	எலுமிச்சை	Thorny Tree	Live	Mechanical barrier
25c	Clerodendrum inerme	Wild Jasmine		Large straggling shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
25d	Commiphora berryi	Indian Balm or Gilead	Mul - கிளுவை		Live	Mechanical barrier
26	Cordia cylindristachya Roemer & Schultes.			Shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
27	Corypha umbraculifera L.			Tall palm	Dried leaf	Mechanical barrier
27a	Cylindropuntia Ramosissima	Diamond Cholla, Branched Pencil Cholla	Suramul	Cactus	Live	Planted on boundary
27b	Datura stramonium	Jimsonweed, Thornapple		Bushy Plant	Live	Prevents entry
27c	Dendrocalamus strictus	Calcutta Bamboo	சிறுமூங்கில்	Small bamboo	Live	Wind breaker
27d	Dodonaea viscosa	Hop Bush, Hopseed		Small shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
28	Duranta erecta L.			Erect or straggling shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
29	Erythrina variegataL. var. orientalis (L.) Merr.			Large armed tree	Live	Planted on boundary
30	Euphorbia antiquorum L.			Fleshy spinous shrub	Live	Prevents entry
31	Euphorbia neriifolia L.			Fleshy spinous shrub	Live	Prevents entry
32	Euphorbia nivulia Buch.-Ham.			Fleshy spinous shrub	Live	Prevents entry
33	Euphorbia tirucalli L.			Fleshy shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
33a	Ficus benjamina	Weeping Fig	வெள்ளால்	Large Tree	Live	Mechanical barrier
34	Furcraea foetida (L.)Haw.			Stout shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
35	Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.)Walp.	Gliricidia, Mexican lilac	சீமை அகத்தி	Small tree	Live	Planted on boundary
35a	Grevillea robusta	Silver oak		Large tree	Live	Mechanical barrier
36	Hibiscus rosa sinensis L.			Large shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
37	Hibiscus schizopetalus(Mast.) Hook.f.			Large shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
38	Hopea ponga (Dennst.) Mabberly			Large tree	Live	Planted on boundary
39	Jatropha curcas L.			Large shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
40	Jatropha gossypifolia L.			Small shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
41	Justicia betonica L.			Scandent shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
42	Justicia gendarussa Burm.f.			Under shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
43	Lantana camara L.	Lantana	உன்னிச்செடி	Rambling shrub	Dried/Live	Mechanical barrier
43a	Lawsonia inermis	Henna, Mehendi	மருதாணி	Small shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
44	Leea indica (Burm.f.) Merr.			Large shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
44a	Leucaena leucocephala	Subabul		Small tree	Live	Mechanical barrier
44b	Morinda pubescens	Indian Mulberry		Small shrub	Live	Prevents entry
45	Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.			Twining herb	Live	Prevents entry
46	Naringi crenulata(Roxb.) Nicolson			Spinous tree	Dried	Mechanical barrier
46a	Nerium oleander	Oleander	அரளி (Arali)	Small shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
47	Ochlandra scriptoria (Dennst.) C.Fischer			Shrubby bamboo	Live/Dried	Mechanical barrier
48	Ochlandra travancorica Benth.ex.Gamble			Shrubby bamboo	Live/Dried	Mechanical barrier
49	Opuntia stricta (Haw.)Haw. var. dillenii (Ker-Gawler)L. Benson			Flat shrub	Live	Prevents entry
50	Pandanus fascicularis Lam.			Large shrub	Live	Prevents entry
51	Pandanus kaida Kurz.			Large shrub	Live	Prevents entry
52	Pandanus unipapillatus Denst.			Large shrub	Live	Prevents entry
53	Pedilanthus tithymaloides (L.) Poit.			Succulent herb	Live	Prevents entry
54	Petalidium barlerioides(Roth.) Nees.			Large shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
55	Phyllanthus myrtifolius			Under shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
55a	Pithecellobium dulce	Manilla Tamarind	கொடுக்காப்புளி	Large tree	Live	Mechanical barrier
56	Plumeria rubra L.			Small tree	Live	Planted on boundary
56A	Prosopis cineraria	‎Khejri Tree	Parambai	Small tree	Live	Planted on boundary
57	Pseudoxytenanthera stocksii (Munro.) Naithani			Slender bamboo	Live	Planted on boundary
57a	Pterospermum acerifolium	Maple-leaved Bayur tree	வெண்ணங்கு	Large tree	Live	Mechanical barrier
57b	Ricinus communis	Castor bean, Castor oil plant	ஆமணக்கு, விளக்கெண்ணை		Live	Mechanical barrier
57c	Robinia pseudoacacia	White Locust Tree			Live	Mechanical barrier
57d	Rubus niveus	Mysore Raspberry		Small shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
57e	Saraca asoca	Sita Ashok, Sorrowless tree	அசோகம்		Live	Mechanical barrier
58	Scleropyrum pentandrum (Dennst.) Mabberley			Small armed tree	Dried / Live	Mechanical barrier
59	Securinega leucopyrus (Willd.) Muell.-Arg.			Straggling shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
59a	Senna auriculata	Tanner's Cassia		Small shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
59b	Sesbania grandiflora	Agati			Live	Mechanical barrier
59c	Sesbania sesban	Egyptian Pea, Common sesban			Live	Mechanical barrier
60	Terminalia travancorensis Wight &Arn.			Large tree	Live	Planted on boundary
60a	Thevetia peruviana	Mexican oleander, Yellow Oleander		Large shrub	Live	Mechanical barrier
61	Thunbergia erecta (Benth.) T.Anders.			Erect shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
61a	Vernonia elaeagnifolia	Curtain creeper, Vernonia creeper			Live	Mechanical barrier
62	Vitex negundo L.			Large shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
63	Vitex trifolia L.			Stout shrub	Live	Planted on boundary
64	Ziziphus glaberrima (Sedgw.) Sant.			Small tree	Dried	Mechanical barrier
65	Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.			Small tree with drooping branches	Dried	Mechanical barrier
66	Ziziphus oenoplia Mill.			Scandent shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier
67	Ziziphus rugosa Lam.			Scrambling shrub	Dried	Mechanical barrier

The following equivalent is not yet found.

S.No.	Common Name	Tamil Name
1	Cactus	Kalli
2	Square cactus	Caturakakalli