Synonyms: Asplenium affine sensu auct., non Sw.; A. pseudo-falcatum Hillebr.; A. pseudofalcatum var. obtusum Hillebr. [?A. sandwichense (C. Presl) Hillebr.]

pi'ipi'i lau manamana (lau, leaf, manamana, dissected: the cut-leaved pi'ipi'i), 'anali'i (P. & E.)

Indigenous

 

Latin lobulus, lobule, a small lobe, referring to the lobes on the acroscopic base of the pinnae.

Plants medium-sized, terrestrial. Rhizomes creeping, covered with dark scales. Fronds 30-65 cm long, almost always proliferous on rachises near beginnings of pinnatifid tips. Stipes grooved, dark brown, sparsely scaly when young. Blades ranging from 1-pinnate with shallowly to deeply lobed distal pinnae margins to 1-pinnate-pinna-tisect, lanceolate; thick, brittle, coriaceous, acuminate; rachises grooved. Pinnae short-stalked, subopposite to alternate, 10-20 pairs, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 4-5 x 1-3 cm at base, upper and lower margins often forming oblong lobes with toothed margins, aero-scopic bases rounded, usually lobed, some-times enlarged and separate, occasion-ally almost becoming pinnules. Veins free, forked. Sori long, curving outward, extend-ing from near costae to near marginal teeth at angles of 10-40°, a few shorter sori in upper basal lobes. Indusia broad, thin.

Common in mesic to wet forests, 240-1,525 m, all major islands. Also native to Samoa, New Guinea, and Borneo.

See A. insiticium for a discussion of the relationship of A. lobulatum to A. insiticium and A. sphenotomum.

Asplenium lobulatum, a 1-pinnate to 1-pinnate-pinnatisect fern, may be recognized by its often deeply lobed pinnae, especially on the top edges, where the basal lobe may be cut nearly to the midrib, and by at least one plantlet on the rachis near the tip on most fronds.