{{Short description|Species of fern}} {{speciesbox | image = Microlepia strigosa var. strigosa (5188218312).jpg | image_caption = ''Microlepia strigosa'' var. ''strigosa'' | genus = Microlepia | species = strigosa | authority = (Thunb.) C.Presl. }}
'''''Microlepia strigosa''''', known as '''hay-scented fern''', '''lace fern''', '''rigid lace fern''' and '''palapalai''', is a fern indigenous to the Hawaiian islands and is also native to other parts of the tropics and subtropics including India and Malaysia.<ref>{{cite book|title=Growing plants for Hawaiian lei : 85 plants for gardens, conservation, and business|publisher=College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-1929325139|pages=40–41|year=2002}}</ref> This fern belongs to a group of about seventy ''Microlepia'' species in the bracken or hay-scented fern family (Dennstaedtiaceae). There are two indigenous species and a hybrid found in the main Hawaiian Islands. It is also known by the botanical names: ''Davallia hirta'', ''Davallia setosa'', ''Davallia strigosa'', ''Dicksonia kaulfussiana'', ''Dicksonia strigosa'', ''Microlepia hirta'', ''Microlepia setosa'', ''Stenoloma tenuifolium'', ''Trichomanes strigosum''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Microlepia strigosa var. strigosa|url=http://nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Microlepia_strigosa_strigosa|website=Native Plants Hawaii|accessdate=26 September 2015|archive-date=20 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720224423/http://nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Microlepia_strigosa_strigosa|url-status=live}}</ref> It has coarse, light to medium green fronds which can grow to more than {{convert|3|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} long.
==Uses== Early Hawaiians used the fronds to decorate hula altars dedicated to Laka, goddess of hula.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nagata|first1=Kenneth M.|title=How to plant a native Hawaiian garden|date=1992|publisher=Hawaii State Office of Environmental Quality Control|location=Honolulu}}</ref> The ferns were used as head lei (''lei poʻo''), neck lei (''lei ʻāʻī''), and wrist lei (''lei kūpeʻe'') and to provide a soft base against the skin.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McDonald|first1=Marie A.|title=Nā lei makamae = The treasured lei|date=2003|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0824826499|pages=131–132}}</ref> The plants were believed to be a cure for insanity.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kaaiakamanu|first1=D.M.|author2-last=Akana|author2-first=Akaiko|title=Hawaiian herbs of medicinal value : found among the mountains and elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands, and known to the Hawaiians to possess curative and palliative properties most effective in removing physical ailments|date=1922|publisher=Board of Health of the Territory of Hawaii|location=Honolulu|page=72|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b5430259;view=1up;seq=79}}</ref> It was also used to bathe in and young leaf fronds were fed to babies.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kaaiakamanu|first1=D. M.|author2-last=Chun|author2-first=Malcolm Nāea|title=Native Hawaiian medicine. Vol. III|date=1917|publisher=First People's Productions|location=Honolulu|page=83|edition=2003 translation}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=24259 GRIN-Global Web v 1.9.7.1: Taxonomy + distribution of ''Microlepia strigosa''] * [http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/hawaiiflowers/Pages/viewtext.php?s=browse&tid=267 Plants for Hawaiian lei: Palapalai] (accessed September 25, 2015) * [http://www.hawaiiannativeplants.com/ourplants/palapalai/ Hui ku Maoli Ola: Palapalai] (accessed September 25, 2015) * [http://data.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/ethnobotany.php?b=d&ID=palapalai Bishop Museum Hawaiian Ethnobotany Online Database] (accessed September 25, 2015)
{{Taxonbar|from=Q15236903}}
Category:Dennstaedtiaceae Category:Ferns of Asia Category:Ferns of Oceania Category:Native ferns of Hawaii Category:Ferns of India Category:Flora of China Category:Flora of Japan Category:Flora of Nepal Category:Flora of Sri Lanka Category:Flora of Thailand Category:Flora of Vietnam Category:Flora of Guangxi Category:Flora of Yunnan Category:Plants described in 1849 Category:Taxa named by Carl Borivoj Presl Category:Native Hawaiian culture