Psilotum complanatum

Description:

Moa nahele, Flat-stemmed whiskfernPsilotaceae (Whiskfern family)Indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands (Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lnai, Maui, and Hawaii Island)Photo: Hawaiiloa Ridge Trail, OahuThe Hawaiian name Moa nahele literally means "forest chicken." Moa is chicken, referring to a chickens' comb, and reference to the fronds. Nahele is forest.It is less common than Psilotum nudus in the islands, but still easy to find in the right environment.Early Hawaiian children would play a simple game of moa nahele (lit., chicken vegetation). Plants in Hawaiian Culture explains how this game was played: Two children sat or stood facing one another, each holding a branched stem of moa. These they interlocked and then slowly pulled apart until the branches of one broke. The other child, without broken branches, was the winner and announced his victory by crowing like a rooster (moa). One of the names o moa in fact means "cock's crow."Moa was also used in lei making by early Hawaiians.Moa (Psilotum spp.) was used for kkae paa (constipation) in newborn babies and elderly men and women. It was also mixed with other plants to treat akepau (tuberculosis, consumption), and various respiratory conditions. Additionally, extracts from moa were used as laxatives. The yellow spores were used for diarrhea in infants and used like talcum powder to prevent chafing from loincloths.EtymologyThe generic name is from the Greek psilos, naked or smooth, alluding to the smooth aerial stems without leaves.The specific epithet complanatum is from the Latin complanatus, flattened, in reference to flattened stems of this species.nativeplants.hawaii.edu