Hybrid bears a name honoring Hampton Lawrence Carson (1914-), professor emeritus of genetics at the University of Hawai 'i and a preeminent evolutionary biologist who works with Drosophila.
Rare epiphyte known only from the trunks of large 'ohi'a (Metrosideros polymorpha) trees in wet forests at about 700 m elevation in the Glenwood area on Hawai 'i Island, several kilometers northwest of there, and in the Laupahoehoe Forest Reserve.
Adenophorus hymenophylloides x A. tripinnatifidus is usually associated with both parental species on the same tree and may be recognized by characteristics that clearly show its intermediacy.