Common Forest of Hawaii (Native and Introduced)

Koa haole, Wood hard and heavy (sp. gr. 0.7); sapwood light yellow and heartwood yellow brown to dark brown. It Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit. makes excellent firewood and and has poten- tial as a source for pulp and paper, roundwood, and con- family (Leguminosae) struction material. Post-Cook introduction The , after being softened in boiling water, are strung into necklaces, leis, table mats, purses, and curi- Koa haole (foreign koa), or leucaena, is a vigorous shrub osities for tourists. or small of dry lowlands throughout the Hawaiian The contain a poisonous alkaloid called Islands, also of larger size on moderately wet sites. This , which can cause the loss of long hair in hu- naturalized deciduous species is characterized by twice- mans, horses, and some other animals, and sickness in pinnate leaves with numerous small gray green leaflets, 3 animals. Mimosine is easily leached from leaves many flowers in whitish round balls ⁄4Ð1 inch (2Ð2.5 by soaking in water, and cooking will also remove it. cm) across the spreading threadlike stamens, and many The trees are easily propagated from seeds or cut- clustered dark brown flat pods. Mimosa subfamily tings and coppice well. However, because of the hard (). coat, the seeds should be treated or scarified first, A rapidly growing small tree 20Ð30 ft (6Ð9 m) tall In some countries this species has been used for coffee and 4 inches (10 cm) in trunk diameter. Bark light gray shade, cacao shade, and hedges. Being hardy it can be to brownish gray, smooth with many dots or warts (len- planted in pastures, to be followed afterwards by timber ticels). Inner bark light green or light brown and slightly trees. In some areas the trees are planted and managed bitter. Twigs gray green and finely hairy, becoming for fuel or charcoal on a short rotation of 3 or 4 years brownish gray. between cuttings. Young plants have been harvested also Leaves alternate, twice-pinnate (bipinnate), 4Ð8 as a green manure for tea and coffee plantations. In the inches (10Ð20 cm) long, with 3Ð10 pairs of lateral axes Far East this legume is grown to rebuild the soil and as (pinnae), the axes gray green and finely hairy, with swell- a forage crop. ing at base. Leaflets 10Ð20 pairs on each lateral axis, 5 5 Abundant as a weed in dry lowlands of Hawaii, of- stalkless, narrowly oblong or lance-shaped, ⁄16Ð ⁄8 inch 1 ten forming dense thickets in lowlands and lower moun- (8Ð15 mm) long and less than ⁄8 inch (3 mm) wide, tain slopes of 2500 ft (762 m) altitude. According to shortpointed at apex and unequal or oblique at short- Degener, this species was unknown in Hawaii in 1864, pointed base, thin, gray green and nearly hairless, slightly but reported as “frequent” 20 years later. It is reported paler beneath, folding upward together at night. 3 1 that seeds have been broadcast from airplanes. Flower heads are whitish round balls ⁄8Ð ⁄2 inch (10- 3 1 13 mm) across on stalks of ⁄4Ð1 ⁄4 inches (2Ð4 cm) in ter- Special areas minal clusters (racemelike) at ends or sides of twigs. Flow- Waimea, Koko, City 5 ers many, narrow, stalkless. Each individual flower ⁄16 inch Range (8 mm) or more in length has a tubular greenish white 1 Native apparently in southeastern but the distri- hairy five-toothed calyx more than ⁄16 inch (1.5 mm) long, 3 bution has greatly extended by introduction beyond. Now five narrow greenish white hairy petals nearly ⁄16 inch (5 5 widely naturalized through New and Old World tropics. mm) long, 10 threadlike white stamens about ⁄16 inch (8 1 Naturalized in Hawaii, Mariana Islands, southern , mm) long, and slender stalked pistil nearly ⁄4 inch (6 mm) southern , and and Virgin Islands. long with narrow green hairy ovary and white style. Planted also in . Pods many oblong, 4Ð6 inches (10Ð15 cm) long and 5 3 ⁄8Ð ⁄4 inch (15Ð19 mm) wide, flat and thin, with raised Other common names border, dark brown, short-pointed at apex, narrowed into false koa, lili-koa, ekoa, ipilipil, wild tamarind; zarcilla stalk at base, and minutely hairy. Many hang down in a (Puerto Rico); tantan (Virgin Islands); tangan-tangan cluster from end of stalk, splitting open on both edges. (Guam); taln tangan (N. Marianas); telentund (Palau); Seeds many in a central row, beanlike, oblong, flattened, ganitnityuwan tangantan (Yap); tangan-tangan 5 pointed, shiny brown, ⁄16 inch (8 mm) long. Flowering (Marshalls); lopa-samoa (Am. Samoa) and fruiting nearly through the year. Botanical synonym Leucaena glauca Benth.

This information is from Agriculture Handbook no. 679 by Elbert L. Little Jr. and Roger G. Skolmen, published by the Forest Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, in 1989. Its present format is that of a reprint version published by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. Common Forest Trees of Hawaii (Native and Introduced)

Koa haole, leucaena Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit. 2 Flowering twig, fruits (right), ⁄3 X (P.R. v. 1).

This information is from Agriculture Handbook no. 679 by Elbert L. Little Jr. and Roger G. Skolmen, published by the Forest Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, in 1989. Its present format is that of a reprint version published by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003.