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Cibotiaceae
Hawaiian Tree Fern Flower
Cibotium glaucum
Ancient lineage and the lush heart of Hawaiian rainforests.
- Family
- Cibotiaceae
- Genus
- Cibotium
- Native to
- Hawaii
- Bloom season
- Year-Round
- Type
- tree fern
- Height
- 300–600 cm
- Sunlight
- part shade to full shade
- Soil
- moist, humus-rich, acidic
- Water
- high; consistently moist
- Hardiness
- 9–12
- Lifespan
- perennial; decades-old specimens common
Did you know
- Ferns do not produce true flowers — instead they reproduce via spores clustered in brown sori on frond undersides.
- Native Hawaiians call this fern 'hapu'u' and traditionally stuffed pillows with its soft golden pulu fibers.
- The pulu fibers were once exported by the ton for mattress stuffing in 19th-century California.
- Cibotium glaucum can grow a trunk over 4 meters tall, creating a canopy that shelters understory plants.
- The genus name comes from the Greek 'kibotion' meaning small cup, describing the shape of the spore covers.
Color meanings
0
shelter
1
ancestral strength
2
tropical abundance