Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Literature for Pteris excelsa
Palmer, 2003.
   Pteridaceae Bibliography
      Pteris excelsa
General Information
DistributionHawaii. Pteris excelsa is also native to South and Central China, the Himalayas, Pakistan, India, South Korea, the Malay Peninsula, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Habit
Plants large, terrestrial. Rhizomes short-creeping, decumbent, thick.
Leaves
Fronds 100-250 cm long. Stipes close, about 1/3 frond length, glossy, naked, straw-colored, sometimes purplish. Blades 1-pinnate-pinnatisect, deltate-elongate, pectinate, bright green, chartaceous; rachises unwinged, tips similar to lateral pinnae. Pinnae 10-13 pairs, cut nearly to costae, short-stalked basally, adnate distally, lanceolate, 20-50 x 8-16 cm, lowest pinnae sometimes again pinnate, especially on the basiscopic side. Ultimate segments narrow, lanceolate, broad at bases, marginsĀ· entire, basal ultimate segments on large fronds occasionally again pinnatisect to pectinate. Veins free and forked, except where joining at margin under coenosori.
Sori
Coenosori bilateral along most of segment margin length; false indusia broad, thin.
Contributor
Sally Eichhorn