Asplenium trichomanes subsp. densum

Description:

OliiAspleniaceae (Spleenwort family)Subspecies is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands (East Maui and Hawaii Island)Photo: Puu Anahulu, Hawaii IslandEtymologyThe generic Latin name aplenum, spleenwort; in ancient Greece the plants were believed to cure spleen diseases. The specific epithet trichomanes is from the Greek trichos, hair, and manes, a kind of cup, possibly alluding to the cuplike cluster of shiny, black stipes, suggesting hair, at the base of the plant.The subspecific Latin epithet densum, thick, crowded, close, probably alluding to the dense clump of old stipes on the rhizome.nativeplants.hawaii.edu