| Pteridophyte | Literature for Menisciopsis cyatheoides
Palmer, 2003. |
| Thelypteridaceae | Bibliography |
| Menisciopsis cyatheoides | |
Common name(s): kikawaio, kikawaioa, pakikawaio |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Hawaiian Islands.In the Hawaiian Islands, endemic to Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i. | |
| Habitat | Forest floors to steep, shaded slopes, on vertical rock walls, often near stream banks and waterfalls, and rocks and ledges along streams. | |
| Elevation | 120-1400 m |
|
| Habit |
Plants variable in size, usually with large fronds; rhizomes erect to decumbent, thick, usually more than 3 cm diameter, interior of various colors from white to yellowish or purple when cut. |
|
| Leaves |
Fronds erect, 25-200 cm long, may be fertile even when short; stipe glabrous except at base; blade 1-pinnate, linear-lanceolate, mostly glabrous, sometimes with scattered glands or hairs, tips of fronds similar to lateral pinnae; pinnae 18-26 pairs, short-stalked, lanceolate to linear, sometimes falcate, 7-30 x 0.8-4.5 cm, margins entire to moderately lobed, basal pinnae same size or sometimes smaller than middle pinnae, tips acute; veins pinnate, minimally or not raised, 3-10 veins anastomosing below sinuses, forming excurrent veins to sinuses. |
|
| Sori |
Sori 3-8 on both sides; indusia large, small, or absent, reniform or peltate. |
|
| Notes |
Specific name from Cyathea, a tree fern genus, plus -oides, resembling, implying a similarity in appearance between the two. |
|
| Contributor |
Sally Eichhorn |