Removing Koa haole on Maui 2024
Channel: Sean Anderson
Date: 23/03/2024

Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit.
Legume family (Leguminosae)

Post-Cook introduction
Koa haole (foreign koa), or leucaena, is a vigorous shrub or small tree of dry lowlands throughout the Hawaiian Islands, also of larger size on moderately wet sites. This naturalized deciduous species is characterized by twice- pinnate leaves with numerous small gray green leaflets, many flowers in whitish round balls 3⁄4–1 inch (2–2.5 cm) across the spreading threadlike stamens, and many clustered dark brown flat pods. Mimosa subfamily (Mimosoideae).

The seeds, after being softened in boiling water, are strung into necklaces, leis, table mats, purses, and curi- osities for tourists.
The plants contain a poisonous alkaloid called mimosine, which can cause the loss of long hair in hu- mans, horses, and some other animals, and sickness in ruminant animals. Mimosine is easily leached from leaves by soaking in water, and cooking will also remove it.

Abundant as a weed in dry lowlands of Hawaii, of- ten forming dense thickets in lowlands and lower moun- tain slopes of 2500 ft (762 m) altitude. According to Degener, this species was unknown in Hawaii in 1864, but reported as “frequent” 20 years later. It is reported that seeds have been broadcast from airplanes.