By chance I happened upon an interesting tropical plant database called Tropicopia.com. Many of the plants in the list are plants are already familiar to Hawaii plant lovers, but there is one that I’ve decided is my mission to find. It’s called Pteris cretica ‘Albo-lineata’ fern, also known as silver ribbon fern or variegated Cretan Brake Fern. What makes this particular fern interesting is that it doesn’t actually look like a fern. It looks a little like a variegated spider plant crossed with the growth profile of certain palm trees. Of course it doesn’t get as big as a palm tree, but it has that strong center surrounded by cascading leaves. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it here, although the tropical weather would make it a good choice.