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Description: Derris trifoliata is an indigenous species in Micronesia and a close botanical relative of D. elliptica (notorious fish poison plant that is now an alien invasive species in a number of Micronesian Islands); the botanical genus Derris is classified in Fabaceae, the bean or legume family.D. trifoliata is usually a slender, woody climber or liana that can grow to be as much as 15 m (45 ft) or longer, and under certain condition, it can blanket the ground and surrounding vegetation (Stemmerman 1981:87). D. trifoliata also sometimes develops into an erect shrub, producing smooth or glossy dark red branches from which compound or pinnate leaves with 3, 5 or 7 leaflets are borne. The inflorescence is a slender raceme with few to many small, whitish to light pink or rose colored, pea-like flowers. The slightly wrinkled fruits have a disk-like orbicular to oblong form about 3-4 cm (1-1.5 in) long and contain 2-3 seeds.
Distribution: As an indigenous climbing woody vine or liana, Derris trifoliata has a wide native range in the tropics from parts of Africa, including some islands in the Indian Ocean and regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. D. trifoliata can creep up on to trees in the strand vegetation that occurs near the coast in swampy scrub vegetation, as well as in forests behind beaches, on muddy foreshores, in or near estuaries, and along the edges of mangroves, sometimes in pure stands.
General Uses: Derris trifoliata has been reportedly used medicinally as a stimulant, antispasmodic, counter irritant, as well as for rheumatism relief, indigestion and painful menstruation that typically involves abdominal cramps. Somewhat similar to its close relative, D. elliptica, D. trifoliata bark and roots are sometime used as a “fish poison” (e.g., Yusuf et al. 2009), and occasionally for cordage. Because of its attractive pea-like flowers and coin-like fruits, the plant has been touted for its horticultural potential, and the leaves are reportedly fed occasionally to cattle and other livestock.
Uses in Palau: Derris trifoliata has been reported as especially common at the landward edge of mangroves in Palau (e.g., see Coles et al. 1987:12). The leaves of D. trifoliata, known in Palau as Kemoken or Kemókom, are soaked in water which is then consumed as a treatment for diabetes (Dahmer et al. 2012). According to Okabe (see Defillips et al. 1988), crushed leaves of Derris trifoliata have been“kneaded with a small quantity of sea water” in Palau and traditionally applied with bandages to people’s wounds for healing purposes, and young leaves were “crushed together with the young leaves of Callicarpa elegans, and the juice pressed out is drunk for amoebic dysentery.” The stems of D. trifoliata have traditionally been used for cordage in Palau (and other islands in Micronesia (see below) to tie bulk packages, but only when the stems are still fresh (Cynthia Chin, 2002, Personal communication). Over time the stems hardened and dry up, and then they cannot be used unless they are soaked in water for a while to soften them; therefore, Palauans do not keep D. trifoliata stems at home for future use. Stems of this vine are usually used when people have no other cordage source or they are in the wet forest areas near the coast of Palau where this common resource is available.
Uses in Yap: Although many of the swamp forest habitats on Yap have long been “converted into taro patch systems,” Derris trifoliata, known in Yapese as Gabati,is one of those native species typically found in these remaining wetland forest environments which are often located just inland of mangrove areas; indeed, D. trifoliata is therefore especially adapted to “the edge of mangroves” (Falanruw et al. 1987:6-7). The young leaves of Gabati (D. trifoliata) are reportedly used to treat amoebic dysentery in Yap as well as in Palau; and young leaves of this species are also reportedly crushed, kneaded with a small quantity of sea water, applied to some wounds and bandaged (see Defillips et al. 1988)
Uses in Chuuk: The stems of Derris trifoliata, known in Chuukese as Wúnenipot or Wúpenipot, which is closely related to Wúúp (D. elliptica), are also used in Chuuk to make a fish poison and as cordage to fasten things together (Goodenough and Sugita 1980:391,395; also see Manner 2013:236). For example, the stems of D. trifoliata are used to tie bundles of Kiyá (Nipa palm, Nypa fruticans) fronds, or bind mangrove crabs when Sinifé (Hibiscus tiliaceus) fiber is not available. The strong stems or Wúpenipot are also reportedly used to pull or haul heavy things.
Uses in Pohnpei: Because of its well-developed ability to hold the shore or soil together, the ritual use of Derris trifoliata, known in Pohnpeian as Kehoahroar is believed to improve the efficiency of fishing gear to catch and hold fish. According to Pohnpeian tradition, D. trifoliata holds the shore, and therefore the land, of Pohnpei together, as well as several other uses:
“To use as a fish bait, leaves are pounded and placed with a fishnet in the water to bring more fish to your net…The [long stem] of this plant was used to make cordage to tie things. It is reported that it is not used for this purpose anymore, except as a yam trellis....To use as a charm to protect one’s working area (farm and building) from sorcerers or from a sorcerer trying to make a person’s crops grow poorly, the vine is pounded and buried in the ground around the working area....To use as a charm for buildings or houses that are incomplete in construction (caused by sorcerers)….To use as a charm to help catch more fish, the bark is placed in the canoe before fishing….To use as a charm to dispel other sorcery on your canoe or net….To use as charm to harm a person who steals (often applies to crops such as stolen sakau [kava, Piper methysticum]…” (see Balick et al. 2009:385).
Uses in Pingelap: Although St. John (1948:111) did not record any use for Derris trifoliata on Pingelap Atoll, he did report its Pingelese name as “Kainipil,” and described it as a “Vine, climbing on trees near beach.” St. John (1948:102) also listed the Pohnpeian name for D. trifoliata as “kan aria” and the Chuukese names as “unenipot” and “up.”
Uses in Kosrae: The stems of Derris trifoliata, known in Kosraean as Ohsrah, which is closely related to Op (D. elliptica), have been used traditionally on Kosrae as cordage to fasten things together; for example they are used to tie bundles of Fahsuh (Nipa palm, Nypa fruticans) fronds, or bind mangrove crabs when Lo (Hibiscus tiliaceus) fiber is not available.
Uses in Banaba and Nauru: According to Thaman and Samuelu (2016:15, 68, citing a list in Sigrah and King 2001), one of the “16 species of trees and plants found on Banaba, which were traditionally used for building, foods and medicines, …te obu, is unidentified, but may possibly refer to beach derris root Derris trifoliata, the roots of which were reportedly used to stun fish; this plant was also present on Nauru in the early 1980s.” These authors suggested that D. trifoliata may have been extirpated from Banaba, and noted that it has also been “reported without a name from Nauru as uncommon in forest on cliffs and on steep slopes of the escarpment the early 1980s but not seen in 2007 (Thaman et al. 1994; Thaman et al. 2008a, 2008b).”