Indigenous puapuamoa (puapua, tail feathers; moa, chicken: chicken tail feathers), laukahi, adder's tongue

Blades drooping, ribbonlike, nearly straight in linear dimensions, but twisted or curled along their length, mostly 40-180 x 1-5 cm, membranous, tips pointed, longer blades occasionally forking. Veins reticulate, conspicuous. Fertile spikes narrow, 0.8-10 cm long, pendent, arising from middles of fronds between lower 1/3 and 1/2.

Uncommon and local in mesic and wet forests, from nearly sea level to 760 m, at a few sites on O'ahu (Ko'olau Range), Moloka'i (Wailau Valley), East and West Maui, and Hawai 'i. Although infrequent in Hawai 'i, this is the most common subspecies of 0. pendulum in its extensive range in the Pacific from Micronesia to the Marquesas, in tropical and subtropical Asia, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, the Philippine Islands, Taiwan, and eastern Australia.

Ophiodenna pendulum subsp. pendulum may be distinguished from 0. pendulum subsp. falcatum by its conspicuous veins and very long, twisted, membranous, ribbonlike fronds.