palapalai-microlepia-strigosa

Palapalai (Microlepia strigosa)

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

  • herbaceous fern (never with a woody trunk), with several to many fronds emerging in a cluster from the soil
  • both surfaces and stems covered with soft, readily felt light color hairs
  • fronds divided two times and almost three times
  • spore producing structures (sori) on underside of leaf near margins of the lobe, protected by a half-cupped shaped covering

TRADITIONAL HAWAIIAN USES

  • used to treat insanity
  • offered on the kuahu or hula altar
  • kinolau of Hi`iakaikapolio Pele, the helper and healer of the Pele clan
  • used in lei making

RAIN FOREST ECOLOGY

  • found in `ōhi`a/hāpu`u rain forest in small numbers in canopy gaps
  • almost always grows from soil, rather than on nurse logs or epiphytically
  • was probably eliminated in Ni`aulani by the invasion of kahili ginger
  • reintroduced by VAC staff in areas recovering following the removal of ginger
palapalai-cluster-microlepia
A small cluster of palapalai ferns found alongside the Ni`aulani Rain Forest trail.

HOW TO SAY “PALAPALAI” IN HAWAIIAN