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Old World Forkedfern — photo by Julien Carley-Windeler

iNaturalist — CC, credited & licensed per image

Gleicheniaceae family

Old World Forkedfern Dicranopteris linearis

Native

Old World Forkedfern is a perennial fern native to Hawaii and the Pacific Basin. It grows to 9 ft.

More about this plant

Dicranopteris linearis is a common species of fern known by many common names, including Old World forked fern, uluhe (Hawaiian), and dilim (Filipino). It is one of the most widely distributed ferns of the wet Old World tropics and adjacent regions, including Polynesia and the Pacific. In parts of the New World tropics its niche is filled by its relative, Dicranopteris pectinatus. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY

Size & form

Sources · Size & form

TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Height · Foliage

USDA PLANTS — Lifespan

Height: 9 ft
Lifespan: Perennial
Foliage: Broadleaf

In the garden

Vine / climber layer — Sits in the vine of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →

derived roles

Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →

Wildlife & visitors 1 nectaring

Open records of who else uses Old World Forkedfern — a generalist food-web signal, kept separate from the keystone Ecological Value.

1 adult butterfly & moth species is recorded nectaring at its flowers:

Abraxaphantes perampla

Interaction records (observations, not exhaustive) from GloBI → (CC0). Counts are distinct species; names are the most-recorded. Common names from Wikidata (CC0).

Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.

How we know this (2) Methods & honest limits

Leaf build Direct fact

We read each species’ measured specific leaf area (leaf area per unit dry weight) from the Global Spectrum dataset and band it: thin & fast (high SLA), medium, or thick & tough (low SLA). The global median is about 10 mm²/mg.

Honest limits: A species-mean from pooled measurements — individual plants vary with light and site. A broad strategy signal, not a precise per-plant figure.

Díaz, S. et al. (2022) The global spectrum of plant form and function: enhanced species-level trait dataset. Scientific Data 9:755.

Photosynthesis Direct fact

A recorded categorical fact: each species is tagged C3 (standard), C4 (heat/water-efficient) or CAM (succulent, night-time CO₂ uptake) — or a facultative combination. We only show a trait card for the noteworthy C4/CAM cases; C3 is the unremarkable majority, kept in the data but not surfaced as a card.

Kattge, J. et al. TRY plant trait database — Categorical Traits Dataset (2012).

Derived values are computed from open data by a published method — labelled, cited, and never shown as a direct observation. Full methodology →

Sources for this entry (17) Open & cited

[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)

[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status

[06] Wetland indicator — USACE National Wetland Plant List (2022)

[07] Photos — iNaturalist — CC, credited per image

[08] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

[09] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)

[10] Foliage — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[11] Height — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[12] Functional traits — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[13] Photosynthetic pathway — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[14] Wildlife & visitors — GloBI — Global Biotic Interactions (CC0)

[15] Mycorrhiza — FungalRoot v2.0 · Meng et al. 2024 (Dryad, CC0)

[16] Human uses — Dr. Duke's Phytochemical & Ethnobotanical Databases (USDA, CC0)

[17] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county

Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.

Cite this page Open data, please attribute

PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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Ecological value

— Not scored

No host or pollinator records yet for this taxon — we don't infer a score we can't cite.

📍 In your area live

Native to the U.S.

Recorded in 1 state.

Open occurrence records place it in 4 counties across 1 states · GBIF (CC0/CC-BY)

Native — Hawaii and Pacific Basin (excl. Hawaii)

Recorded in 1 states/territories

Conservation

Conservation status G5 — Secure

Invasive? No

Wetland indicator FACU

What do these ranks mean?

NatureServe ranks risk 1–5 (1 = rarest), globally (G) and per-state (S). A species can be secure worldwide yet at risk in your state. NatureServe →

Toxicity & pet safety

Check the ASPCA pet database →

Educational, not veterinary advice. If you suspect your pet ate this plant, contact a vet or pet poison-control line.

Documented human uses Dr. Duke's

4 use-records

Historically recorded for

AsthmaBactericidePilesVermifuge

A historical record of how this plant has been used — not medical or dietary advice, and not a claim that it is effective or safe. Many plants are toxic; never ingest or treat with a wild plant without expert guidance and a confirmed identification. Dr. Duke's →

Functional traits TRY · Dryad

Seed mass tiny

0.00 mg

dust-fine seed — surface-sow; needs careful propagation

Leaf nitrogen low

10.3 mg/g

leaf nitrogen — a rough guide to compost/mulch value

Leaf build medium

Medium

mid-range leaf build (measured leaf area per weight 9.1 mm²/mg)

Mycorrhiza obligate

Arbuscular (AM)

partners with arbuscular fungi — the commonest symbiosis; helps reach phosphorus & water, aiding drought resilience

Deep dive — what these mean

Seed mass 0 mg — average weight of one seed. Bigger seeds are easier to hand-collect & direct-sow; dust-fine seeds need surface-sowing.

Leaf nitrogen 10.3 mg/g — measured leaf N. Higher = richer prunings for compost/mulch (a measured stand-in for "dynamic accumulator" claims).

Leaf build — how thick & tough the leaves are. Thin, lightweight leaves grow fast and crave light; thick, tough leaves last longer and shrug off shade, drought & grazing. (measured leaf area per dry weight, 9.1 mm²/mg)

Photosynthesis — the standard “C3” pathway most plants use, most active in cooler, moister, moderate-light conditions. (pathway C3)

Mycorrhiza AM — the root–fungus partnership it forms (AM = most plants; ECM = most forest trees; ERM = heaths; NM = none). Trades sugars for water & nutrients via shared soil networks.

Measured traits from TRY + Werner et al. (N-fix), Fan et al. (roots) & FungalRoot — general guidance, not species-specific prescriptions.

More modules coming

Old World Forkedfern Dicranopteris linearis

Growing & care

Wildlife & pollinators

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