Synonyms: Acrastichum wawrae Luerss.; Elaphogossum aemulum sensu Brack., non Kaulf.; E. tahitense sensu C. Chr., non Brack.
Common names: laukahi, hoe a Maui ("Maui's paddle"), 'ekaha
Endemic
Name honors Heinrich W. Wawra (1831-1887), Moravian-Austrian physician and botanist and member of the Austrian East Asiatic Exploring Expedition on the frigate Donau under Admiral Petz; Wawra collected plants in Hawai'i in 1869 and 1870.
Plants small to medium-sized, epiphytic or terrestrial. Rhizomes short-creeping, 3-5 mm diam. (including scales), bearing many appressed brown to straw-colored scales with darker centers, 2-3 mm long, becoming naked with age, phyllopodia conspicuous, dark. Stipes close, 1-15 cm long, straw-colored, lacking wings, often sparsely scaly. Sterile blades 8-42 cm long, erect, coriaceous, elliptic with obtuse to acute apexes, gradually tapering into stipes, one or both surfaces often bearing tiny scales, especially along abaxial midrib; margins often revolute; blades not glandular. Fertile blades usually narrower than sterile ones, stipes proportionately much longer. Veins obscure, parallel, free and forked.
Common in mesic to wet forests, 800-2,100 m, all major islands except Lana 'i.
Elaphoglossum wawrae has leathery fronds and resembles E. crassifolium, but may be easily distinguished by its free and forked veins, smaller size, and narrower blades.
HYBRIDS Anderson and Crosby (1966) detected the following putative hybrids.
Elaphoglossum alatum x E. fauriei Plants intermediate between the two taxa have been found on O'ahu.
Elaphoglossum fauriei x E. parvisquameum Plants intermediate between the two taxa have been found on Moloka 'i. Reference: Anderson and Crosby (1966).
Development of the Consortium of Pacific Herbaria and several of the specimen databases have been
supported by National Science Foundation Grants (BRC 1057303,
ADBC 1304924
and ADBC1115116).
Data Usage Policy. Continued support provided by the Symbiota Support Hub, a domain of iDigBio (NSF Award #2027654).
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