Photo by Forest Starr and Kim Starr licensed under CC BY 2.0

We tend to think of ferns as fragile plants, existing in the shaded, humid understories of forests. This could not be farther from the truth. Their lineage arose on this planet some 360 million years ago and has survived countless extinctions. In truth, they exhibit a staggering array of lifestyles, each with its own degree of adaptability. Take the Hawaiian tree fern, Sadleria cyatheoides for example.

Known in Hawai'i as the 'Ama'u, this tree fern is one of the first species to colonize the barren lava flows that make the Big Island so famous. This is an incredibly harsh landscape and many challenges must be overcome in order to persist. This does not seem to be an issue for the 'Ama'u. It is just as much at home in these water-starved habitats as it is in wetter forests. It is easily the most successful species in this genus, having colonized every island in the archipelago.

Photo by John Game licensed under CC BY 2.0

Much of its success has to due with a part of its life cycle that is much less obvious to us - the gametophyte stage. The tree fern we see is only half of the story. It is the spore-producing phase conveniently referred to as the sporophyte. When a spore finds a suitable site for germination, it grows into the other half of the life cycle, the gametophyte. This minute structure looks like a tiny green heart and it houses the reproductive organs of the plant. When water is present, male gametophytes release their flagellated sperm, which swim around until they find a female gametophyte to fertilize. Once fertilized, the resulting embryos will then grow into a new tree fern and start the cycle anew.

What sets the 'Ama'u apart from its rarer cousins is the fact that its gametophyte appears to be quite capable of both outcrossing and self-fertilization. Outcrossing, of course, promotes genetic diversity, however, the ability to self-fertilize means that a new plant can grow from only a single spore. This is super advantageous when it comes to colonizing new habitats. Its cousins seem to lack this ability to self-fertilize successfully, restricting them to more localized areas. Taken together, I think it's safe to say that the 'Ama'u is one tough cookie.

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Further Reading: [1] [2]

Photo by David Eickhoff licensed under CC BY 2.0

Islands are known for their interesting flora and fauna. Until humans came on the scene, colonization events by different species on different islands were probably rare events, with long stretches of time in between. Because of this, islands are interesting experiments in evolution, often having endemic species found nowhere else in the world. Hawai'i was once home to many different kinds of endemic species. One such group are the Hibiscadelphus.

As you may have gathered by the name, Hibiscadelphus is a relative of hibiscus. The Latin name means "brother of Hibiscus." Unlike the widely splayed flowers of their relatives, Hibiscadelphus flowers never fully open. Instead, they form a tubular structure with a curved lower lip. The genus consists of 7 species. Four of these have gone completely extinct, two are only maintained in cultivation, and the remainder is barely holding on. There have been attempts to reestablish some species into other portions of their range but due to hybridization, these attempts were ceased. In my opinion this is a shame. In this case, a hybrid is better than losing both parental species and it would still be uniquely Hawaiian.

Why are Hibiscadelphus so rare? Well, humans have a sad history when it comes to colonizing islands. They bring with them a multitude of invasive species at a rate in which the local flora and fauna cannot adapt. They change the land through cultivation and development as well as by subduing natural fire regimes. Also, they wipe out keystone species, which causes a ripple effect throughout the environment. Hibiscadelphus have faced all of these threats and more. Pigs and rats eat their seeds, their habitats have been turned over for the ever-increasing human population, fires have been stopped, and some of their pollinators, the endemic honeycreepers, have also been driven to extinction thanks to avian pox and malaria. Sadly, this is a story that repeats itself time and time again all over the world. For now, the future of Hibiscadelphus is rather bleak.

Photo Credit: David Eickhoff