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Diplazium molokaiense
Diplazium molokaiense is a rare Hawaiian fern, now known in the wild only on Maui with fewer than 70 plants, and it is federally endangered. It grows in shaded, wet, streamside forest, so keeping it cool, humid and consistently moist is the key to growing it.
Diplazium molokaiense is a rare species of fern known by the common name Molokai twinsorus fern. It is endemic to Hawaii, where it is one of the rarest ferns. It has historically been found on the islands of Kauai, Oahu, Lanai, Molokai, and Maui, but it is thought to have been extirpated from four of them and today can be found only on Maui where fewer than 70 individual plants remain. The fern was federally listed as an endangered species of the United States in 1994.
This fern grows in the moist riparian forests on the slopes of two mountains on Maui, one of which is the volcano Haleakalā. It can be found next to streams lined with basalt boulders and near waterfalls and plunge pools. The forest in the area has a mostly open canopy and is dominated by ʻōlapa (Cheirodendron trigynum) and ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha). Other plants of the understory include Ākala (Rubus hawaiensis), Kanawao (Broussaisia arguta) and Coprosma species. The fern grows from walls of mossy rocks alongside other ferns such as Pteris cretica, Polystichum haleakalense, Pneumatopteris sandwicensis and Diplazium sandwichianum.
Deparia petersenii subsp. congrua · Diplazium assimile · Diplazium australe · Diplazium dietrichianum · Widened Twin Sorus Fern · Vegetable fern · Diplazium fraxinifolium · Peacock fern · Governor Laffan's Fern · Diplazium melanochlamys · Diplazium queenslandicum · Mountain Twinsorus Fern
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Diplazium molokaiense by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
