Trichomanes draytonianum Brack.; Crepidopteris draytonianum (Brack.) 0. Deg. & I. Deg.; Trichomanes humile sensu W. J. Rob., non G. Forst.

Endemic Name honors Joseph Drayton (died 1856), American artist with the U.S. Exploring Expedition (the Wilkes Expedition) who supervised the engraving of plates for the resulting publication.

Plants small, creeping, terrestrial, mostly epipetric. Rhizomes thin, nearly hairlike, 0.1 mm or less diam. Fronds 3-11 x 1-3 cm, spreading to pendent. Stipes 1/10-1/5 frond length, with minute, dark hairs at bases. Blades pinnatifid to 1-pinnate-pinnatisect, lanceolate, narrowing at bases, basal pinnae smaller; rachises winged. Ultimate segments small, narrow, chartaceous. Sori embedded in ultimate segments. Indusia short, cone-shaped, tips broadly flaring.

Uncommon and often overlooked, but sometimes locally abundant in dark mesic and wet forests, on wet stream walls, rocks, and mossy tree trunks, 20-1,100 m, all major islands.

A study of enzymes of Vandenboschia draytoniana and V. cyrtotheca by Donald Farrar has shown that these morphologically very different species are very similar genetically.

Vandenboschia draytoniana suggests a miniature V. davallioides, but can be differentiated by its filamentous rhizomes and short, cone-shaped indusia with broad, flaring tips.