Polypodium lineare Burm. f.; Dicranopteris dichotoma (Thunb.) Bernh.; D. hawaiensis (Nakai) Ching, (as D. "kawaiensis"); D. Linearis var. maxima (Christ ex Hochr.) 0. Deg. & I. Deg.; D. sandwicensis 0. Deg.; Gleichenia dichotoma Hook.; G. dichotoma var. tomentosa Luerss.; G. hawaiensis sensu (Nakai) C. Chr., non Brack.; G. hermanni R. Br.; G. linearis (Burm. f.) C. B. Clarke; G. linearis var. maxima Christ ex Hochr.; Mertensia dichotoma (Thunb.) Willd.; M. hawaiensis sensu Nakai, non Brack.; M. linearis (Burm. f.) Fritsch; Polypodium dichotomum Thunb.

Common names: uluhe, unuhe

Indigenous

Latin linearis, linear.

See generic description. Ultimate segments 1.5-3.5 x 0.3-0.8 cm.

Very common terrestrial fern in mesic to wet forests, often covering steep slopes, near sea level to above 2,000 m, all major islands.

Dicranopteris linearis, the most common member of the family Gleicheniaceae in Hawai'i, is also native to tropical Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, and Indonesia. An early colonizer of landslides and disturbed areas, uluhe often forms large tan-gled mats of crisscrossing secondary rachises that cover entire hillsides and are the bane of many a cross-country hiker. These mats are composed of one or a few clones. They serve as nurseries for the regeneration of native tree species. In the 1990s, uluhe was being killed or diminished over large parts of its range on all the islands by a poorly understood malady produced by the introduced two-spotted leafhopper (Sophonia rufofascia). The severity and extent of this malady has lessened, but the typical graying of the dam-aged basal pinnae, sparing only the green living pinnae near the tips of the frond, is still quite common. Naturalized weeds have appeared in some large areas where D. linearis was severely damaged.

Hawaiians drank an infusion brewed from the fronds as a laxative. Shore-dwellers of Ka'u on the island of Hawai 'i applied the derisive term pala uluhe (ripened in uluhe leaves) to poor upland farmers, who ripened bananas in pits lined and covered with uluhe leaves, rather than allowing them to ripen in the field (Pukui 1983).