Aspidium aculeatum Sw. var. braunii sensu Hillebr., non Doll; A. haleakalense (Brack.) H. Mann [Hillebrand's Aspidium hillebrandii ~ var.]

Endemic Named for Haleakala, a mountain on the island of Maui.

Rhizomes decumbent, short. Fronds 23-55 x 6-11 em. Stipes straw-colored, scaly with thin, flexible scales, scales narrow, lanceolate, concolorous, pale tan to light brown, thin, intermixed with soft hairs and fibrils. Blades 2-pinnate to 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, linear-lanceolate, tapering at bases, charta-ceous, dull; rachises, costae, and veins covered with scales and fibrils. Pinnae 20-30 pairs, alternate, lanceolate, 2-8 cm long, very short-stalked, smaller at bases of fronds, lowest pinnae 1/4-1/3 length of middle pinnae. Pinnules ovate-lanceolate, oblique, deeply cut into lobules with prominent, sharply pointed tips, margins not cartilagi-nous, both surfaces with fine, tan, hairlike scales and hairs, upper basal pinnules not much longer than adjacent pinnules. Sari medial, 5-9 on a pinnule, commonly covering abaxial surfaces. Indusia thin, peltate, with fringed margins.

Found in mesic forests, 1,710-3,230 m, on East Maui (Haleakala) and Hawai 'i (Mauna Kea).

Polystichum haleakalense may be distinguished by its fronds with the lower pinnae usually 1/3-1/4 the length of the middle pinnae; thin, tan or light brown stipe scales that are uniform in color and intermixed with soft hairs and fibrils; and blade surfaces that are not glossy.