Cibotium chamissoi

Description:

Hpuu or Hpuu meuCibotiaceae (Tree fern family)Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands (common on Oahu; uncommon to scattered on Molokai, Lnai, Maui and Hawaii Island)Aiea Loop Trail, OahuA characteristic feature of this hpuu or tree fern (Cibotium chamissoi) is retaining it's skirt of dead fronds, whereas other Hawaiian species will generally shed them.Hawaiians, both long ago as well as in recent times, ate the uncoiled fronds (fiddles), which were considered delicious when boiled. Likely the starchy core of this species, as with hpuu pulu and hpuu ii, was used as an important famine food. One trunk may contain 50-70 pounds of almost pure starch and would have been used for human as well as pig consumption. It was prepared by peeling the young fronds or placing the entire trunk with the starchy center in an imu or in steam vents at the volcano.Etymology The generic name Cibotium is from the Greek kibotion, dimunutive of kibotos, a box or casket, in reference to the indusium, a part of the fern blade that covers the sorus (spores).The specific name, chamissoi, named for Ludolf Karl Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838), French-born German explorer, naturalist, author, poet, and plant collector.NPH00012www.nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Cibotium_chamissoi