Plants of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
|Scientific Name||Nephrolepis exaltata|
|Other Names||Sword fern, kupukupu, `okupukupu, pamoho|
|Distribution||It is found from sea level to 1,065 m, growing in sun or shade in dry to wet areas (Valier 1995: 76).|
|Fronds and Leaves||
|Other Notes||We are pretty sure that the
identification of the ferns shown above is correct. However, we're
doing some additional field checking just to be sure. Note the
following identification comments.
Stone and Pratt (1994: 114) indicate that there are two sword ferns, Nephrolepis exaltata and N. multiflora, growing in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, noting that they often occur together and are difficult to tell apart.
Lamoureux (1996: 10-11) says that there are three species in the Park. His list adds N. cordifolia to those listed by Stone and Pratt. This species, according to Lamoureux, differs by having a frond width of less than 2 inches, while the other Nephrolepis species are usually over 2.5 inches wide.
|References||Valier, Kathy, 1995, Ferms of Hawai`i.
University of Hawai`i Press, Honolulu, HI.
Lamoureux, Charles H., 1996, Trailside Plants of Hawai`i's National Parks. Hawaii Natural History Association.
|Links to Other Sites|
Last Updated: 07/22/02