|
Introduction
*Kiwa = 'iwa (Hawai'i)
*Kiwakiwa = 'iwa'iwa (Hawai'i)
Kiwakiwa (Tuamotus)
Kiwakiwa (Aotearoa)
Gallery at end of page
*Kiwa seems to have given rise to names for a few mainly terrestrial ferns that generally like to grow where there's plenty of moisture. The name's reflexes have been carried carried north and south from Tahiti, but in its homeland it is vaguely remembered only in the
Tuamotus through a term that refers to a part of a particular fern at a certain stage of development rather than the plant itself. Most of these ferns have dark stems or fronds, which may have inspired the name (Proto-Polynesian *kiwa has been reconstructed as meaning "dark-coloured" or "black"). The name in its basic or reduplicated form has been given to eleven native (three indigenous and eight endemic) species of ferns in Hawai'i, the emerging fronds of one species in the Tuamotus, and a single native fern in Aotearoa. It is possible that the Marquesan name for a variety of coconut, kivakiva, is also a reflex of *kiwa, with the frond of the coconut likened to that of a fern.
*Kiwa = 'iwa (Hawai'i)
 The original kiwa may have been Asplenium caudatum (a.k.a. A. horridum), now known as 'iwa in Hawaii. This fern (illustrated on the left) has short, creeping rhyzomes and bristly, rough fronds, 55 - 130 cm tall by 6-32 cm wide, with dark-brown stipes and 28-50 pairs of pinnae (leaflets), tapering at the base. It is found throughout the tropical Pacific. In Hawai'i it occurs in forests and shrublands from 200-1,000 metres elevation.
There is a smooth-stiped variety (v. glabratum) endemic to Hawaii, and the other (v. horridum) hairy and very scaly, is also found elsewhere in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. In Samoa this plant is one of the ferns found as epiphytes in the cloud forests on Savai'i. Although both varieties are found in a variety of environments from about 200 m. elevation in Hawai'i, including wet forests at high altitudes, it seems to be a mainly terrestrial fern in all its habitats there. In the Cook Islands Asplenium caudatum v. horridum is found natively at higher altitudes in Rarotonga, but does not seem to have attracted a local name.
The other Hawaiian 'iwa is Pteris excelsa, depicted in the gallery below. This fern has very long fronds, from 1 to 2.5 metres on mature plants, with 10-13 pairs of bright green pinnae. It has straw-coloured or purplish stipes. Its natural distribution also ranges from Central and South China, the Himalayas, Indian subcontinent to Malaysia, Japan and Taiwan. In Hawaii it is found in wet forests on all the main islands in patches on shady valley floors, especially at higher altitudes (above 500 m.).
The other members of the *kiwa group in Hawai'i are all known by the reduplicated form of the word, 'iwa'iwa.
*Kiwakiwa = 'iwa'iwa (Hawai'i)
 One of the nine species of Hawaiian ferns named 'iwa'iwa is Asplenium adiantum-nigrum (photo on left), a small fern with pale green fronds 8 to 40 cm long by 5-12 cm broad. The stipes are shiny and dark brown towards the base, and contrast with the light-coloured rachises. This is a cosmopolitan fern, found natively in Europe, Africa, Eurasia, Mexico, the Southwest United States and Taiwan as well as Hawai'i (but not in Rarotonga or Aotearoa). In Hawai'i it is found on dry lava and in open woods and shrubland in all the major islands, between 300 and 4,000 metres elevation. It is believed that this fern originated in Europe, as a hybrid between Asplenium cuneifolium and A. oropteris.
 A second Hawaiian 'iwa'iwa is the endemic Tectaria gaudichaudii, 'iwa'iwa lau nui -- the big-leaved 'iwa'iwa. The fronds are 30-140 cm. long with triangular blades (illustrated right). This fern lives in moist valleys and gullies on all the main islands. Kathy Valier (Ferns of Hawai'i, p.70) translates its name as "large-leaved maidenhair" and attributes this to its dark, wiry stalk. That is indeed a common characteristic uniting many of the ferns with named with reflexes of *kiwa, but other analogies have probably also been made in bestowing one of this set of names on possible candidates. Its counterpart is Asplenium macraei, iwaiwa lau li'i -- the small-leaved 'iwa'iwa, endemic to Hawai'i but with closely related species found on Rapa in the Austral Islands, and on Cocos Island. This is a terrestrial fern, or group of ferns -- its small pinnae are highly variable in shape and plants found in different localities have at times been assigned to different species or even different genera. The attenuated fronds are held erect and are 15-40 cm. hight by 1.5-3 cm. wide, with the round stipes a fifth or less of the length of the frond, with 20-45 alternating pairs of pinnae on each frond. It is found in damp or wet forests at higher altitudes (420-1830 m elevation) on all the major Hawaiian islands.
 The 'iwa'iwa puakea (pale-coloured 'iwa'iwa), Pteris irregularis, is also endemic to Hawai'i. Unlike its small-leaved namesake, it is not in the least irregular (as can be seen from the picture on the left), but, as one meaning of the Latin specific name suggests, the frond could be cut into two symmetrical parts along a single plane. It is a medium to large-sized terrestrial fern, with fronds from sixty cm to as much as 1.5 m. long, with the glossy, straw-coloured stipes at least half the length of the frond. It is another higher-altitude ferm, found in dryish forests from 450-1920 m. on all the major Hawaiian islands.
Asplenium aetheopicum, 'iwa'iwa a Kāne (Tane's kiwakiwa) is a pan-tropical fern, and the Hawaiian plants belong to the "New World" strain also known as A. praemorsum, which may turn out to be a species in its own right. Although it grows mostly in moist to wet forests from 300 to 1,950 m. elevation, a hairy dwarf form grows in cracks on exposed lava flows and boulders on Maui and Hawai'i. It is also found sometimes perched in cracks in tree-bark, as in the photo in the gallery at the top of this page. The fronds are 20-60 cm. long by 5-14 cm. wide, with 6-16 pairs of pinnae, almost opposite to alternating, with the stipes about half the length of the frond.
 The other native 'iwa'iwa include four endemic species belonging to the pan-tropical genus Doryopteris. They have small, leathery multi-lobed triangular leaves, with dark glossy stalks like those of the Adiantum. One species, D. decipiens, thrives on exposed, rocky sites at elevations from 150 to 1,000 m. on dry ground or in crevices on rock faces (there is a photograph of it in cultivation on the left, and another in its natural habitat in the gallery below). It will grow in places exposed to the sun and its leaves curl up for protection in very dry conditions. Another species, D. decora, is likewise found on all the major islands. It has very short- stalked pinnae. The other two species are very rare. D. angelica is found only on a few locations on Kauai, and D. takeuchii is confined to Diamond Head on Oahu.
The last of the native 'iwa'iwa in Hawai'i is the European maidenhair fern, Adiantium capillus-veneris has spread around the world (the photo on the right was taken above an Auckland, New Zealand stream-bed); it is widespread globally in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate habitats, and native to Hawai'i where it grows on shady banks, level ground, and also rocks kept wet by seepage from sea level to about 600 metres (although it is rather rare in the wild), but naturalized in New Zealand. In some ways it is quite a tough fern -- it can stand drenching by sea spray -- but it requires continual moisture. The fronds are from 15-50 cm. long, and the pinnae subdivided into numerous fan-shaped leaflets. Hawaiians plaited the shiny black stalks into pandanus mats to form decorative designs. This fern is featured in many sayings and allusions, for example 'A'ohe i ana iho ko'u makemake i nā 'iwa'iwa i ka ua o Hā'o: My desire is not satisfied for the ferns in the Hā'o rain. (The Hā'o rain was the fine misty rain encountered on the mountainside at Nu'uanu, near Honolulu and a few other localities).
Kiwakiwa (Tuamotu Archipelago)
 The Tuamotuan member of this group, Microsorum grossum, is quite different from the rest; the plant name kiwakiwa refers only to the twisted unfolding new leaf (see illustration on left), and the plant as a whole is also markedly different in appearance and habit from most of the others. It is native to New Guinea, Australia, and Polynesia from Samoa to the Cook Islands and Pitcairn Island, but not Hawai'i or Aotearoa. However there is a very interesting side-story about its Hawaiian connections. The fronds are 3-10 cm apart on rhizomes which have scattered, dark-brown scales. The leaves are up to 75 cm long, with the stipes (stalks) as long as the raches (mid-ribs of the leafy part). The leaves have 2-10 pairs of lobes, very dark green or almost black, tapering to a pointed or rounded one at the top. It forms an effective ground cover, and sometimes grows as an epiphyte. The leaves are aromatic when crushed -- in Rarotonga the scent of this particular fern is not regarded highly judging by its local name: maire tūtae puaka; a related species, M. commutatum, maire kakara, has a more favoured aroma there.
 In Hawaii, however, the crushed leaves of M. grossum are used as lei material, sometimes interspersed with sections of Pandanus fruit. Their scent is reminiscent of the maile (as indeed it was to the Rarotongans), and the crushed leaves were also used to infuse the inks used in making special kinds of kapa (tapa). It has acquired the name lau'e there in reference to a fragrant plant in Hawaiian tradition, whose actual identity is uncertain, but very probably was the more beautiful but much less common endemic species, M. spectrum (photo on the right), which is found as an epiphyte and ground cover in damp and wet forests. That fern has a single, arrow-shaped blade with 3, sometimes 5, lobes. Its leaves are up to 65 cm. long. There is no record of M. grossum in Hawaii before 1919, but the introduced fern spread rapidly and soon replaced its local counterpart in easily accessible environments.
Kiwakiwa (Aotearoa)
 The New Zealand kiwakiwa, Cranfillia fluvatilis, is a plant found in damp forest throughout Aotearoa, including the Chatham and Antarctic Islands. Like some of its Hawaiian namesakes, it thrives in damp, shaded areas and along the banks of streams (hence its Latin specific name). It has short, rounded pinnae; the fertile pinnae are stubby and held vertically erect when mature. There are 20 to as many as 60 pairs of pinnae, tapering towards the top of the frond, but otherwise more or less the same size: 1-3 cm. by 8 - 12 mm. in the sterile fronds. The leaflets have minutely toothed margins. The sterile fronds are often arranged in a drooping or prostrate rosette, with the fertile fronds held erect. The blades are 15-75 cm long.
Traditionally the kiwakiwa was used in ceremonies instituting a rāhui (a prohibition of entering or removing certain resources in a particular place, as a conservation measure or because the place was held to be tapu for some reason). A maro (skirt) of kiwakiwa was attached to the pole marking the boundary or entrance of the affected area, and after the ceremony often removed and hidden along with a stone that had been placed at the foot of the rāhui pole, to safeguard the effectiveness of the rāhui and ensure its observance.
The leaves of the kiwakiwa were sometimes crushed and rubbed on a mother's breast to faciitate weaning -- the child would find the taste unpleasant and accept other forms of nourishment. The stems of the plant were also chewed, by adults, with less reluctance -- the bitter sap was an effective remedy for mouth ulcers.
Gallery |
Photographs: The sources of the photographs in the gallery are acknowledged in the captions. The inset photos are, in order: [1] Asplenium caudatum, Rarotonga (c) Gerald McCormack, CINHP; [2] Asplenium adiantum-negrum, Polipoli, Maui, Hawai'i, (c) Forest & Kim Starr; [3] Asplenium gaudichaudii, [4] Pteris irregularis, and [5] Doryanthus decipiens, in cultivation, Kaneohe, Hawaii, R.B.; [6] Adiantum capillus-vereris, Meola Creek, Auckland, NZ, (c) Peter de Lange (NZPCN); [7] Microsorum grossum (detail), Hana Highway, Maui (c) Forest & Kim Starr; [8] Microsorum spectrum (detail), in cultivation, Olinda Rare Plant Nursery, Maui, (c) Forest & Kim Starr; [9] Cranfillia fluvatilis, Tararua Range, NZ, (c) Jeremy Rolfe (NZPCN). We are grateful to the photographers for permission to use their photographs on this website, and to Kate Lynch, Kaneohe, Hawaii, for allowing me to photograph plants in her extensive collection of Hawaiian ferns.
(Hoki atu ki runga : Return to the top of this page) |
