Pteridophytes (Spore Producing Plants: Ferns and More) • Earth.com

Deparia prolifera

(Deparia prolifera)

galery
en

Description

Cibotium (from the Greek kibootion, meaning chest or box) is a genus of 11 species of tropical tree fern-subject to much confusion and revision-distributed fairly narrowly in Hawai-i (four species, plus a hybrid, collectively known as h-pu-u), Southeast Asia (five species), and the cloud forests of Central America and Mexico (two species). Some of the species currently listed in the literature seem to be synonyms or local-variant subspecies. Cibotium glaucum, from Hawai-i, is the most frequently encountered Cibotium species in the horticultural trade, together with its sibling species Cibotium chamissoi and the potentially huge Cibotium menziesii. The remaining Hawaiian Cibotium, C. nealiae, is a 1-metre (3.3 ft) dwarf variety, restricted to the island of Kaua-i that is never seen in the horticultural trade. Precise identification of Cibotium species is difficult, although all have shiny and rather waxy fronds when viewed from above, with varying degrees of powdery-pale blush when seen from underneath. The natural habitat of Cibotium is among the dripping trees and stream gulleys of the rainforests on Hawai-i's windward volcanic slopes.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Pteridophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order:Polypodiales
Family:Athyriaceae
Genus:Deparia
News coming your way
The biggest news about our planet delivered to you each day