Fish-Poisoning in the Hawaiian Islands 2a7 
It was gathered for hola during the growing period, as the natives 
assert that it was without bitterness in its dormant state. This bit- 
terness they associate with the poison. Plate XIX B illustrates a 
flowering and fruiting specimen from Oahu, about 2% feet high, 
found growing in a soil pocket on a limestone slope and crowded 
by exotic vegetation. 
In many localities auhuhw has been exterminated. Among the 
contributory factors are the competition of introduced plants, the 
native method of gathering, and the ravages of goats and cattle. 
Heller, writing in 18977, reported auhuhu growing plentifully 
on the western slope of Diamond Head, Oahu. but in 1920, at the 
right season, the writer searched for it unsuccessfully. A native 
of Oahu claimed to have gathered the plant in Heller’s locality in 
1912, further asserting that this spot was noted for efficacious au- 
huhu. As for some years past, there have been dairy yards on the 
western side of the crater, and cattle trails high up on the slope 
were observed during the search mentioned, the disappearance of 
the plant in that locality was undoubtedly due to cattle. In 1919 
while on the Island of Hawai, the writer learned the goats had 
exterminated the auhuhu in a pasture of 6 to 8 square miles. The 
native goat drivers (who were also fishermen) reported that the 
goats ate the entire plant and that cattle ate the plant when in the 
dormant, but not in the growing state—without, however, destroy- 
ing the root. Perhaps its greatest rival is the allied indigo’ (/ndi- 
gofera anil L.., introduced in 1836), which has found easy entrance 
on account of the fisherman’s method of pulling up the auhuhu by 
the roots. 
To present-day Hawaiians akia as a fish poison is less known 
than auhuhu, though as a medicine it is still in use. The older 
Hawaiians speak of two kinds, akia manalo, or akia maoli, which is 
not bitter, and akia awaawa, the bitter form. The bitter variety is 
said to have been used for fish poison. 
Hillebrand described seven species and four varieties of Wik- 
stroenua (akia) in the Hawaiian Islands, varying in size from 
"Heller, A. A., Plants of the Hawaiian Islands: Minnesota Geol. and 
Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 9 (Minnesota Bot. Studies, vol. 1), p. 833, 1894-1808. 
* Hillebrand. Op. cit. 
[ea 
