Schizaea australis sensu Brack., non Gaudich.

Common names: 'oali'i makali'i, haiti o Pua (Pua's memory or spirit) (P. & E.)

Endemic

Latin robustus, robust. A surprising name for this usually small plant, but the original collections and some extant plants are quite large and robust (this is atypical for the genus).

Rhizomes decumbent to erect, covered with small, thick, shiny, waxy, multicellular hairs. Fronds closely clustered, with up to 60 stipes retained at rhizome tips, variable in length, 3-42 cm long with blades, often pendent, often only the stipes present, and small blades lacking, blades and upper stipes frequently broken off, plants without blades resembling a grass stem. Stipes up to 25 x longer than blades, grooved, grooves with central rounded ridge on adaxial surface. Blades at tips of fertile fronds, tiny, 3-20 x 2-6 mm, fistlike. Pinnae 4-12, small, margins fimbriate, arising from winged rachises.

Uncommon, but abundant in its restricted habitat on open, windswept, moist banks and cuts, and bog hummocks, usually in exposed areas, 500-1,750 m, all major islands.

Pua, from the Hawaiian name for this plant, haiti o Pua, was a mischievous goddess of sorcery, sometimes described as residing on Moloka 'i.

Schizaea robusta was believed to be her plant form and was sometimes used as a psychological remedy to ward off her evil influence (P. & E.). Schizaea robusta fronds often resemble stiff sedges when only the stipes are present, or small toothbrushes when the blades are present.