Palapalai

Hi, I’m Palapalai! I’m an indigenous Hawaiian fern. My fronds are light to medium green and can grow to over 3 ft long, and I usually have about a 3-5 foot spread.

I live on all the islands except Niʻihau and Kaho‘olawe, mostly in dry - moderately wet habitats from a little above sea level to nearly 6,000 ft.

Likes:

Moist environments

• I’m not good with droughts, but I don’t like too much water either, I want that perfect medium

Relaxing in the shade

• I do best in shade to part sun, so growing under larger trees or shrubs works great for me!

• I can tolerate full sun sometimes, but living in a hot, exposed location would be really tough

Special care needs: 

• If dead fronds need to be removed, make sure to cut them, not pull them off

• I’m sensitive to herbicides too, so try to be careful about those

Not too bad, right? I try to be pretty low maintenance, but I still want somewhere nice and safe to grow.

Occupation:

• Native Hawaiians use me to decorate altars to hula goddess, Laka, and to make lei po’o, lei a’i, and lei kupe’e (head, neck, and wrist lei)

• My medicinal roles in Hawaiian culture include being used as a cure for insanity, to bathe in, and to feed to babies

• Today, I’m still part of lei making and work as high groundcover for gardens