How to Grow and Care for Palapalai

The rhizome is long and wide, with a diameter of 5 mm and brown hair. The petiole is amber and its base is light brown. The entire petiole has a lot of hair, and when it gets older, the hair falls and leaves its traces. The petiole is 30 to 60 cm long. The leaf blades are 30 to 60 cm in length and 15 to 30 cm in width. As a whole, they are egg-shaped needle-shaped to egg-shaped, usually single-winged compound leaves with thick grass and yellowish green to dark green. The wing pieces are usually 20 pairs or less, the shape is a linear needle shape, the tip gradually narrows, and finally the tail extends. The base is wide wedged or rounded and may or may not have a handle. The edges of the wings are shallow or deeply winged, and the edges of the wings are serrated, with short hairs on the middle of the surface and on the entire back. The sporangia are near the edge of the debris, but the envelope edge is away from the leaf edge and inside. The envelope is about 1 mm in length and width and has hair.

It has coarse, light to medium green fronds which can grow to more than 91 cm long.

Microlepia trichocarpa, like some other ferns, alternates its reproductive strategy, releasing spores one year and sprouting new plants from its growing rhizome the next. A rare and somewhat obscure plant only rarely cultivated in botanical collections, it was listed as endangered on India's section of the IUCN Red List in 2012.

Microlepia hookeriana (Microlepia hookeriana) is a tropical fern whose specific epithet refers to the celebrated botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911). This creeping fern is covered in red-brown or brown hairs and is found in forests and damp habitats.

Limpleaf fern typically thrives in the understory of dense tropical forests, showcasing its affinity for warm, humid environments. This fern exhibits sprawling fronds that can span up to a meter, characterized by delicate, lace-like leaflets that gracefully unfurl from thin, wiry stems. The soft green foliage may give limpleaf fern a feathery appearance, inviting a touch, while its penchant for shady nooks highlights its role as a versatile ground cover in its native habitat.