Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_filicium_decipiens
Fern Tree
Filicium decipiens
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About Fern Tree
Fern Tree (Filicium decipiens) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Native from eastern Africa and Madagascar to southwestern India and Sri Lanka, where it occurs in seasonally dry tropical settings and mixed forest, including river valleys. On Kauaʻi its naturalized occurrence is documented at island scale; current abundance and ecological effects are not quantified.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Filicium decipiens
- Common names
- Fern Tree · Japanese fern tree
- Other names
- Filicium decipiens · Fern tree · Japanese fern tree · Rhus decipiens Wight & Arn. · Pteridophyllum decipiens (Wight & Arn.) Thwaites
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects on Kauaʻi remain unassessed.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Small yellow flowers form branched inflorescences and develop into one-seeded ellipsoid or subglobose fruits. Successful recruitment requires flowering, pollination, fruit maturation, seed dispersal, and seedling establishment; Kauaʻi phenology and recruitment are unmeasured.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Fern Tree (Filicium decipiens) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Native from eastern Africa and Madagascar to southwestern India and Sri Lanka, where it occurs in seasonally dry tropical settings and mixed forest, including river valleys. On Kauaʻi its naturalized occurrence is documented at island scale; current abundance and ecological effects are not quantified.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:128045-1
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:128045-1/general-information
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx
- https://doi.org/10.5479/si.32124043