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Uluhe Ferns of Hawaii
Posted: February 19, 2008
I love to photograph uluhe ferns which are by far the most common native fern in the mountains of Hawaii. Their distinctive light green color, bifurcating branching pattern and charming little fiddleheads make them a charming sight in the native landscape.
Uluhe or false staghorn ferns (Dicranopteris linearis) are indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands, Polynesia, and across the tropics throughout the world.
Uluhe thrive in direct sunlight and dominate the landscape in the mountains of East Maui where they grow in thickets up to 10 feet high and can comprise 80% of the ecosystem biomass. It is punishing to hike through uluhe — their fronds are vine-like and interweave each other making passage difficult, time-consuming, and exhausting. They also have woody stems that scratch anyone unwise enough to wade through a thicket of uluhe with unprotected legs and arms.
Uluhe covers steep mountain slopes and is important in keeping the forces of erosion in check. In this photo taken on the Poamoho Trail on Oahu, the uluhe ferns in the background thrive on a near vertical mountain-side.
Uluhe also thrive in the understory beneath trees. In this photo taken along the Manana Trail above Pearl City on Oahu, uluhe ferns grow in the shade of a grove of koa trees along the trail.
Uluhe begin life as a purple coil that shoots straight out from the ground. As the shoot uncurls a striking bifurcating pattern unfolds. The fern branches into two fronds which splits into two more fronds over and again in a repeating pattern. This bifurcating branching patterns allows the fern to behave like a crawling vine that interweaves with other uluhe ferns to form dense thickets. This mechanism also allows them to crawl up and down steep mountain sides and to cover large trees over the landscape.
This photo shows the bifurcating branching pattern of a hairy subspecies of uluhe endemic to Hawaii. This specimen grows at the summit of Mount Kaala, the highest point on Oahu.
One of the more distinctive aspects of uluhe are its quaint little fiddleheads. As its bifurcating pattern unfolds, uluhe fronds are often terminated by cute little double fiddleheads.
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Sources:
Plants of Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park
Hawaiian Ethnobotany Online Database
Mahalo for the information on uluhe fern. I made alot of trails on Oahu in the Helemano area and Mililani area back in the 1980′s untill 91. I didn’t know what this plant was called? Untill a few weeks ago. I now live in Washington, and we have alot of ferns here, but nothing like the uluhe fern. I use to call the uluhe fern “tangle fern” because you get tangled up in it if you try and walk through it. I use to use a chain saw to cut through it, because it was over my head in places. I loved the jungles of Hawaii and I use to walk through them valleys by myself, and scout for new areas to make new trails. There is alot of history in them thar hills. Spooky at times, and run into old graves, Hawaiian rock walls, wild bores and pakalolo patches. Takes a special kind of person to walk into them valleys alone. That’s why my last name means “nutz.” I do miss Hawaii.—–Aloha! From the Geezer, Dereald Nuez Hangonriders Hi.#5-0 and still hanging on at 61. Sept.27,2010