Cibotium is a genus of 11 species of tropical tree ferns, and the sole member of the family Cibotiaceae in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (PPG I) classification of 2016. Some treatments instead place it as subfamily Cibotioideae within a broadly circumscribed Cyatheaceae, which is the arrangement used by Plants of the World Online. The genus belongs to the order Cyatheales within the class Polypodiopsida.
Species are distributed across three disjunct regions: Hawaiʻi (four species plus a hybrid, collectively known as hāpuʻu), Southeast Asia (five species), and the cloud forests of Central America and Mexico (two species). Their natural habitat is the wet, dripping understory of tropical rainforests — particularly the stream gullies and windward volcanic slopes of Hawaiʻi — and montane cloud forests. The fossil record shows the genus once ranged widely across the boreotropical flora of Europe, eastern North America, and western Asia.
The genus is well known both in horticulture and in ethnobotany. Cibotium glaucum, C. chamissoi, and the large-growing C. menziesii are the species most commonly encountered in the horticultural trade. Cibotium barometz is the most ethnobotanically notable species: its rhizome hairs have been used as a wound styptic in Malaysia and China, and it features in traditional Chinese medicine as an anti-inflammatory and anodyne. The same species supplied the hairy rhizome pieces that lent credibility to the medieval legend of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.
Etymology
The name Cibotium derives from the Greek κιβώτιον (kibṓtion), meaning "little chest" or "box," likely a reference to the shape of the sori or sporangia. The genus is also commonly known as manfern.
Distribution
Cibotium species occur in three disjunct regions: Hawaiʻi (four species and one hybrid), Southeast Asia (five species), and the cloud forests of Central America and Mexico (two species). The fossil record extends the former range to Europe, eastern North America, and western Asia, indicating the genus was once part of a broad boreotropical flora.
Ecology
Cibotium grows in the dripping, humid understory of tropical rainforests and cloud forests — particularly the stream gullies and windward volcanic slopes of Hawaiʻi (such as Olaa Forest) and montane cloud forests in Central America. The genus is adapted to high-moisture, sheltered environments with consistent rainfall.
Cultural Uses
Cibotium barometz has a long history of medicinal use: its rhizome hairs serve as a styptic for wounds and are still exported from Malaysia for this purpose, while in traditional Chinese medicine the rhizome is used as an anti-inflammatory and anodyne. The same species is historically associated with the legend of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary — hairy rhizome pieces with leg-like bud stalks were used to support belief in a mythical half-sheep, half-plant hybrid. In Hawaiʻi, women historically used the soft, furry crozier material as a tampon.
Cultivation
The Hawaiian species Cibotium glaucum and C. chamissoi, along with the large-growing C. menziesii, are the most frequently cultivated members of the genus and appear in the horticultural trade. They are occasionally used in California garden designs. Glasshouse collections are maintained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and RBG Edinburgh; specimens of C. regale in the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, Belgium, are open to the public in May.
