Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1886-03-01
HAWAIIAN FERNS AND FERN.
ERIES.
FIFTH PAPER.

he road over which we have been
travelling in our ferning expedition is
by no means bad one, but we are
obliged to leave it now that we are
something over a mile above the sea.
We pick our way over the rough ground
to the edge Of the woods and then dis
mounting follow a rough cattle trail
into the woods.
1t is noticeable that the higher up
we 20 the more abundant do we find
the MOSES and lichens on trees and
rocks; and now, when we pause in the
midst of the dense forest, we find all
the tree trunks-living and dead
covered with an infinite variety of
moses and ferns. Some of the latter
we recognize but there are others new
to us, and few so local in their habits
of growth that we would not find them
at all off the slope of Haleakala noun
tain where we are supposed to be.
We see about us plenty of Aspidinm
aculeatum-- which we found below
and with it the rare Il. Haleakalense,
a very beautiful variety, found only on
the mountain from which it takes IFS
name, and not unlike aeNleatum but
softer in texture, and more densely
clothed with light brown scales. 1t
grows in thick clumps, and the fronds
range in size from two inches in length
to two feet
Another fern that is found only on
this same mountain slope, but some
what lower down is the Dagaiha Aie1-
andr1 named in honor of Prof Alex
ander, the Surveyor General of the
Kingdom. This is most exquisite
fern, of rich deep green, very finely
subdivided, and decorated with an
abundance of spores borne on the ends
of the wedgeshaped sections. Its clus-
ters of fronds are very graceful in habit
and grow from six inches to two feet
in length.
We are now in the home of the As
Pidinm H2ie-naS or ''Mole" fern, the
root of which has been used for many
years for medicinal purposes. 1t is
stately plant, richly and heavily seeded,
and is found here with fronds often
three feet in length and eight inches
wide.
In sheltered hooks near us are to be
found clusters of the Asblenium mOnan-
tfemum which bears its seeding on the
lower edge only of each blunt, horizon
tai pinnule. From near the base of
the smooth, black, polished stem
spring young ferns and form dense
mass about the parent plants. Scat
tered about us are many fine plants of
the elegant AsbAeninm asptaioides whose
finely cut fronds suggest flmy lace
work. These fronds are often three
feet in length by two in breadth, each
frond being cut into long lunciolate
pima, which are again cut into slender
pinnules, they being subdivided until
the ultimate divisions are very fine
The seeding is profuse and the whole
form a most lovely fern. ION the
Island of Kauai there is a variety OF
this fern even more finely cut than the
one just described and called the
'lace" fern.)
With the other ferns found here is
the f0lyp0ainm ,a6ieinoSnm, so named
from the red color of its stem and the
midribs of the pinnule. 1t is by no
means a common fern and is of very
neat habit and appearance,
On the moss-covered trees about us
are growing masses of the pretty little
Polypodium pSeado,gyummiteS, with
slender, simple fronds tipped by an un-
usually large ''buttton" of seeds while
higher up on the same trees are seen
the pendant fronds of the beautiful p
Aden0phet0aS, one of the most grace
full of all this class of ferns.
There is little gully near us, worn
by heavy rains, and in its steep banks
are to be found specimens of the
stately Astidinm ayistafum with its
sharply pointed pinnules gracefully
curved as is the whole frond and
near it, half hidden in deep crevices,
beautiful fronds of Zr1chomaNes D,ay-
fontannm, from whose goblet-shaped
spore vessels project long, delicate hairs
black with seeds. On the base of a
tree-trunk at the edge of the bank is a
beautiful mat-as it were-of the min
ute T. hnmille-a pretty variety of the
Pay0ulNm. There is a slender tree a
little way back from the edge of the
gully, and round about it is twined the
lovely 7. radicanS, each filmy, finely
cut frond resembling superb dark
green plume. The plant covers the
tree with most lovely groups of its
fronds and we sigh to think that it can
not be transplanted to some of our
home ferneries.
We know that there are many more
beautiful varieties of ferns to be found
on this mountain side, and that we
have only glanced at those the most
easily found. But if We were to ex
tend our explorations further up the
mountain side we would not wish to
stop short of the summit, nor even
then, if we suspected what there was to
be found in the crater of Haleakala
itself
We must conclude this sketch of
few of the natural ferneries of the
Islands, feeling that the description OF
the varieties to be found is by no
means cOmDlete but honin0 that M,