Family: Marattiaceae
Yapese name: m'ong
Pohnpeian name: Peiwed (Poaiwed) Paiued
Chuukese name: ammarre(chuuk lagoon)
The cultural uses of this plant: In Yap Island for an example, there are many uses of this plant in their culture. Therefore this plant seems to be very important to the Yapese and am sure that some of the islands in the FSM also valued this plant too. This plant is very important because it is one of the common ingredients of the families' secret medicines. This plant is believed to be a pain relieve, and able to cool down the body temperature. The leaf can be gathered together like the way it is shown on this picture and lay them down on the mat. Any person who has backache can lay on it during the night sleep. It cools down the body temperature and at the same time it helps massage the body and relief the pain.
On the other hand, this typical plant is used for leis especially in Yap. The Yapese use this plant to fix leis especially young girls. They add the leaf with other types of flower and then fix them.These leis will then be given to special people or use them on Yapese dance. Most people like to have leis just for decoration and its smell really helps the brain or head to calm down when tired. Some people may use it to say goodbye to relatives and friends when leaving the island of Yap. Some hotels and diving tours use these laids to welcome Yap island visitors which known as tourists. These leis is used to give to priests when saying out the mass and congressmen when attending special meetings. Some Pohnpeian friends also said that they use these plants for medicine especially the trunk but again it is the families' secret medicine.
Other than that, this plant can be used for decorations especially at the graduations because it is such a beautiful type of fern. It is used also on parties in Yap as a gift.The people like the smell especially the yapese so people like to have this as their laids. They will pick up the leaves and gather them in bundles then take the seeds for (ICE plant, pohnpeian name) and grind it then spread on the leaf. The bundle with the grinded ice seed will then be covered with the betelnut leaf part that usually cover the betelnut when it is still small.They even sell this type of fern to people who want them.
Many more uses of this plant here in Micronesia especially in Yap and if any one knows more about this plant, please write me at johngelag2@yahoo, johngelag2@hotmail, John Gelag's Web Page