about the base of the stipites of the handsome Fern DicJcsonia 
Culcita * L’Heritier. 
Of the commercial value of an exactly similar substance, 
from plants of a closely allied genus, viz. Cibotium , we find the 
following recent account given by Mr. M. C. Cooke, on Pulu 
and some analogous products of Ferns, in the ‘ Pharmaceutical 
Journal' for April, 1860. “Three species of Cibotium, viz. 
C. glaucum , Hook, et Arm, C. Ckamissoi, Kaulf., and C. Men - 
ziesii, Hook., are described as natives of the Sandwich Islands: 
all produce Pulu (the silky fibre in question), which has now be¬ 
come an established article of export from that locality. Al¬ 
though its use for pillows, etc., has been known amongst the na¬ 
tives from time immemorial, and a little may have been exported 
prior to 1851, yet, as an article of trade, it only dates back to 
that year. The Custom-house returns of the Hawaian Islands 
give the following amount of export in each year :— 
1851 .... 2,479 lbs. 
1852 .... 27,088 „ 
1853 .... 12,739 „ 
1854 . . . * . 34,031 „ 
1855 .... 82,558 lbs. 
1856 .... 247,740 „ 
1857 .... 260,560 „ 
1858 .... 313,220 „ 
It is exported principally to San Francisco (California), though 
not confined wholly to that port, some being sent to Australia, 
Vancouver’s Island, and other places. Messrs. Harris, the prin¬ 
cipal dealers in Pulu , became by accident engaged in the trade. 
In 1854 they had a suit with a storekeeper in Hawaii, and judg¬ 
ment being rendered in their favour, about 800 lbs. of Pulu was 
all they could obtain in satisfaction. This material was then 
worth little or nothing in the market; they however took it, and 
shipped it to San Francisco, where it realized 28 cents per pound. 
This circumstance decided them on commencing the trade, and 
now two-thirds of the exports are supplied by them. 
“ The Fern which produces the Pulu grows on all the high lands 
of the Sandwich Islands, at an elevation of about one thousand 
feet in height. Though found more or less on the five principal 
islands, the trade in it is chiefly confined to the districts of Hilo, 
Hamakua, and Puna, in Hawaii. The Pulu is produced around 
* Mr. Cooke states that “ in the island of Fayal, on "Villa Orta, one of the 
Azores, Dicksonia arborescens , L’Herit., grows round the margin of a lake in such 
profusion that the silky down of its stems is used by the principal inhabitants as 
stuffing for their mattresses.” Here is surely some error, for the Dicksonia arbo¬ 
rescens is one of the rarest of Ferns, and peculiar, we believe, to Diana’s Peak, in 
the island of St. Helena. No doubt Dicksonia Culcita was mistaken for it, which 
does grow in the Azores as well as in Madeira and the Canary Islands; and Seu- 
bert, in his ‘Flora Azorica,’ says the substance is largely gathered : “ Haec coma, 
quam incolae, uti et plantam ipsam, e Cabellintro ’ vocant, praesertim in insula 
Madera, ubi speciosa haec filix etiam provenit, stragulis farciendis adhibetur, quo 
factum est, ut haec planta, quae sylvas montanas Azoricas mire con decorat, in ilia 
insula rarescere incipiat.” 
