05-19-2012, 08:22 AM
A few years ago, I wrote a research paper on Uluhe fern understory. The leaves do decompose fairly nicely, and leaf extracts do have fungal spore inhibition qualities, which have some benefit in the forest.
Their stems have a strong & resilient (read, they NEVER decompose….or so it seems, like little plastic sticks!) quality due to the lignan content, & decompose at less than ¼ the rate of most forest plants. It seems that their lack of efficient decomposing is one of their attributes in the Hawaiian forests as the stem tangle keeps much of the forest leaf organic matter up in the tangled crown, & the nutrients drip down the stem and into the ground as the tangled matter decomposes in air... not a fast soil building system, but faster nutrient transfer to the Uluhe
Past thread link:
http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10458
Their stems have a strong & resilient (read, they NEVER decompose….or so it seems, like little plastic sticks!) quality due to the lignan content, & decompose at less than ¼ the rate of most forest plants. It seems that their lack of efficient decomposing is one of their attributes in the Hawaiian forests as the stem tangle keeps much of the forest leaf organic matter up in the tangled crown, & the nutrients drip down the stem and into the ground as the tangled matter decomposes in air... not a fast soil building system, but faster nutrient transfer to the Uluhe
Past thread link:
http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10458