Lauaʻe is an introduced perennial fern from Australia and has since become a naturalized ornamental garden plant across Hawaiʻi. Lauaʻe fronds emerge from creeping, black or brown-scaled rhizomes. Their fronds are glossy and range from dark green to bright green in color. Fronds are erect, oval to oblong in shape, and pinnatifid with 2-10 pairs of pinnate lobes. On fertile fronds, there are usually one or two rows of round reddish-brown sori on either side of the midrib. This plant is non-flowering and can reach a height of up to three feet. Lauaʻe commonly grows as a ground cover, in rocks, and on trees within disturbed lower elevation forests. The crushed leaves of some populations of this fern have a pleasant maile (vanilla-like) fragrance and are used to make lei and scent kapa.

Microsorum scolopendria is native to Western Australia, but has been in Hawaiʻi for so long that many people think it’s the endemic Hawaiian lauaʻe, Microsorum spectrum. The more common non-native laua’e was introduced to Hawaiʻi in the late 1910s. While the more beautiful and far less common, endemic  laua‘e (Microsorum spectrum) grows in rain-soaked, low-elevation forests — although you’re more likely to find it in a greenhouse than in the wild. Endemic lauaʻe also exudes a signature scent, but unfortunately it has become so rare that it has been replaced in cultural hula practices with the non-native lauaʻe,  Microsorum scolopendria. Both species are beloved by lei makers and Hawaiian cultural practitioners either way.