Athyrium sandwichianum C. Presl; Asplenium brevisorum sensu Hook. & Baker, non Wall.; A. sandwichense (C. Pres!) Milde [Hillebrand's Asplenium sandwichianum C. Presl~ var.]

Common names: ho'i'o, pohole (Maui name)

Endemic

Specific name from an earlier name for the Hawaiian Islands, the Sandwich Islands.

Plants large, herbaceous. Rhizomes creep-ing to decumbent. Fronds up to 1.5 m long. Stipes 45-90 cm long, dark brown, sparsely and transiently scaly at bases. Blades 2-pinnate-pinnatisect to 3-pinnate-pinnatifid, deltate-ovate to ovate, medium to light green, chartaceous, glabrous. Pinnae alternate, oblong, broadest in middle, 12-25 cm long. Pinnules short-stalked proximally, sessile distally. Ultimate segments usually close, narrowly oblong, 4-6 mm wide, margins entire or slightly lobed. Veins free, not prominent. Sori 5-8 pairs in 2 regular rows on each side of midvein, submedial, short-linear, 1-3 mm long. Indusia thin, soon deciduous.

Common in mesic to wet forests, often forming a dominant ground cover in moist forest understory, 105-1,850 m, all major islands. Diplazium sandwichianum is much more common than the closely related D. arnottii, with which it hybridizes (see under Hybrids later in this treatment).

Hawaiians ate the crosiers and young fronds of ho'i'o uncooked, often with poi or freshwater shrimps ('opae), and they are still gathered in the forests today. They make a pleasant salad green.

Ka i'a lauoho loloa o ka 'aina. (The long-haired fish of the land.) A Hawaiian proverb referring to any vegetable, including ho'i'o, eaten with poi. Poetically, leaves are the oho or lauoho, hair, of plants (Pukui 1983).

Diplazium sandwichianum is an usually large, 3-pinnate to 3-pinnate-pinnatisect, colony-forming fern of wet and shady envi-ronments. It is separated from D. arnottii by its shorter sori, frequently more-dis-sected fronds, thinner-textured blades, and narrower ultimate segments.