''Microsorum scolopendria'',
synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
''Phymatosorus scolopendria'',
[ commonly called monarch fern, musk fern, maile-scented fern, breadfruit fern, or wart fern is a species of fern within the family ]Polypodiaceae
Polypodiaceae is a family of ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), the family includes around 65 genera and an estimated 1,650 species and is placed in the order Polypodiales, suborder Polypodiineae. A broader ...
. This fern grows in the wild in the Western Pacific rim from Australia to New Caledonia to Fiji and throughout the South Pacific to French Polynesia.
It was introduced in Hawaii in the late 1910s and has subsequently naturalized rapidly. It is found on all main islands. Its Hawaiian name ''lauaʻe''[ is thought to have originally referred to the native fern '']Microsorum spectrum
''Microsorum'' is a genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae, subfamily Microsoroideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). The species are tropical. Like most ferns, they grow from rhizomes, rath ...
''.
The scientific name ''M. scolopendria'' has been misapplied to '' Microsorum grossum'' (and their synonyms in ''Phymatosorus'').
Uses
When crushed, the fern issues a scent similar to maile. Sometimes, pieces of the fern are interlaced in leis made of strung-up keys (individual drupes
In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...
) of the pandanus
''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names ...
fruit.
kapa
Kapa is a fabric made by native Hawaiians from the bast fibres of certain species of trees and shrubs in the orders Rosales and Malvales.
Description and uses
It is similar to ''tapa'' found elsewhere in Polynesia (the Hawaiian phoneme corre ...
fabric.
Folklore
Expanses of the fern famously grows in Makana
Makana is a mountain located on northern shore of the island of Kauai, Kauai, where it rises above Limahuli Valley.
''Makana'' is a Hawaiian language term meaning gift or reward. It is often used as a person's name or as part of a name.
Limahul ...
on Kauaʻi
Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the List of islands of th ...
, and is commemorated in song.[
]
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
*
External links
* Gustafson, Robert, 1939- Hawaiian plant life : vegetation and flora Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2014.
* Valier, Kathy, 1953- Ferns of Hawai`i Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, 1995
* http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/hawaiiflowers/Pages/viewtext.php?s=browse&tid=252 Plants for Hawaiian lei: Laua'e
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15248487, from2=Q3027867, from3=Q38239691
Polypodiaceae