Tephrosia purpurea is a small shrub that grows up to 1.5 meters tall. It has bi-pinnate leaves with 7 to 15 leaflets, the terminal leaflet being solitary. The leaflets are 10 to 32 mm long and 5 to 11 mm wide. The pea like flowers are white to purple and arranged in inflorecences that are up to 25 cm long. The individual flowers have corolla parts that are between 2 to 3 mm long. The pods are straight and somewhat upcurved at the terminal end and may range from 20 to 45 mm in length and 3 to 5 mm wide. When dry, the pods split along two valves to reveal 2 to 9 black rectangular seeds 2.5 to 5 mm long and 1.8 to 3 mm wide.
(Wagner, W. L., Herbst, D. R and Sohmer, S. H. 1990. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai`i)
Throughout Polynesia, the roots of Tephrosia purpurea are used as a fish poison. The plant contains "tephrosin" which stuns fish, but has no effect on mammals.
(Wagner, W. L., Herbst, D. R and Sohmer, S. H. 1990. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai`i)
Tephrosia purpurea is native to the Old-World tropics from Africa, Southeast Asia to Australia. It is probably native to the western part of the Pacific, but appearently was introduced to Hawai`i and other eastern Pacific islands by early Polynesians for its value as fish poison.
We currently have 9 herbarium specimens for Tephrosia purpurea in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.
