Pteris owahuensis C. Pres!; P. terminalis Wall.

Common names: waimakanui, 'iwa

Indigenous

Latin excelsus, higher, tall, very tall, referring to the large frond size.

Plants large, terrestrial. Rhizomes short-creeping, decumbent, thick. Fronds 100-250 cm long. Stipes close, about 1-3 frond length, glossy, naked, straw-colored, sometimes purplish. Blades 1-pinnate-pinnatisect, deltate-elongate, pectinate, bright green, chartaceous; rachises unwinged, tips similar to lateral pinnae. Pinnae 10-13 pairs, cut nearly to costae, short-stalked basally, adnate distally, lanceolate, 20-50 x 8-16 cm, lowest pinnae sometimes again pinnate, especially on the basiscopic side. Ultimate segments narrow, lanceolate, broad at bases, margins entire, basal ultimate segments on large fronds occasionally again pinnatisect to pectinate. Veins free and forked, except where joining at margin under coenosori. Coenosori bilateral along most of segment margin length. False indusia broad, thin.

Common in scattered areas in wet forests, 300-2,075 m, all major islands. Pteris excelsa is also native to South and Central China, the Himalayas, Pakistan, India, South Korea, the Malay Peninsula, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

Pteris excelsa may be distinguished by its large, 1-pinnate-pinnatisect fronds, large pinnae, and comblike ultimate segments.