[Craccapurpurea L.; Tephrosiapiscatoria Pers.]
(pol) ‘Auhuhu, ahuhu, ‘auhola, hola
Short-lived subshrubs up to 1.5 m tall.
Leaflets 7—15(—21), oblanceolate, ellipticoblong, or obovate, (5-) 10-32 mm long, (2—)5—11 mm wide, lower surface inconspicuously strigillose. Flowers upcurved just before reflexion of the standard, in inflorescences up to 25 cm long; calyx strigillose to sericeous, teeth deltate, the lowest one 3 mm long, the others 2-2.5 mm long; corolla pale pink, purple, or sometimes nearly white, standard 6-10 mm long. Pods
linear, 20-45 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, strigillose, beaked, curved slightly upward toward tip, twisting when dehisced. Seeds 2-9, pale brown to black, rectangular to transversely elliptic, 2.5-5 mm long, 1.8-3 mm wide. [2n = 16, 22, 24, 44.] Native from Africa to southern Asia and Malesia, tropical Australia, and the Tuamotus; in Hawaii naturalized primarily on dry, rocky, or clay soil in coastal sites, on open lava fields, dry slopes, and ridges, and in pastures, 5-610 m, on all of the main islands.—Plate 96.
The Hawaiian material is referred to var. purpurea, which has a low, bushy habit and sparsely pubescent stems. Formerly, Ha- waiians used this plant as fish poison by pounding up plants and placing them in tidal pools. The leaves contain tephrosin, which drugs fish but not mammals (Neal, 1965).