For a feel of the rainforest, take the path through the Hawaiian tree ferns. Known as the "mother of the forest," this native tree fern (Hapu'u) is one fo the first to sprout on recently cooled lava. She provides a canopy of shade for the next succession of plants, and nurtures on her trunk the growth of moss, lichens, ferns, and even young ohia trees. in this quiet forest of ferns, the only sounds you'll hear are footsteps crunching on the cinder trail. Touch the downy brown pulu on the young fern fronds - gathered in the 1850s for upholstery stuffing - and the whisk broom fern moa,whose spore capsules once provided talcum for early Hawaiians. Look for a "pregnant" anthurium, whose spadix at the center of the heart-shaped bract is swollen with berries. Early flower farmers on the Big Island raised anthuriums under the shade of the tree ferns, just as you see here.
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