Pritchardia

<i>Pritchardia</i>

Pritchardia

Genus of plants

This article is about the plant genus. For the insect genus, see Pritchardia (fly).
"Loulu" redirects here. Not to be confused with Lulu, Loulou, or Lulou.

The genus Pritchardia (family Arecaceae) consists of between 24 and 40 species of fan palms (subfamily Coryphoideae) found on tropical Pacific Ocean islands in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tuamotus, and most diversely in Hawaii.[2][3] The generic name honors William Thomas Pritchard (1829-1907), a British consul at Fiji.[4]

Quick Facts Pritchardia, Scientific classification ...
Pritchardia limahuliensis
Pritchardia palms

Description

These palms vary in height, ranging from 6 to 40 m (20 to 131 ft).[5] The leaves are fan-shaped (costapalmate) and the trunk columnar, naked, smooth or fibrous, longitudinally grooved, and obscurely ringed by leaf scars. The flowers and subsequent fruit are borne in a terminal cluster with simple or compound branches of an arcuate or pendulous inflorescence that (in some species) is longer than the leaves.

Species

There are 29 known species, of which 19 are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, with the remainder on other island groups. Many are critically endangered. Oahu has the most named Pritchardia species of any of the Hawaiian islands, with nine named species on record in 1980. Eight of those species can be found in the rainy Koolau Range.[6]


Formerly placed here

  • Licuala grandis (hort. ex W. Bull) H.Wendl. (as P. grandis hort. ex W. Bull) (Vanuatu)
  • Washingtonia filifera (Linden ex André) H.Wendl. (as P. filamentosa H.Wendl. ex Franceschi or P. filifera Linden ex André)[8] (Southwestern United States and Baja California)

Relationship with humans

Native Hawaiians (who call them loulu or noulu) often plant the trees in their traditional homes.[9] They often consume their seeds (known as hāwane or wāhane) raw,[10] use their trunk wood as building material and leaves as roof thatching in houses and temples.[9]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Genus: Pritchardia Seem. & H. Wendl". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2007-10-05. Archived from the original on 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  2. [2]
    Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. [3]
    Hodel, D.R. (2007). A review of the genus Pritchardia. Palms; Journal of the International Palm Society 51(Suppl.): 1-53.
  4. [4]
    Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. Vol. 3 M-Q. CRC Press. p. 2168. ISBN 978-0-8493-2677-6.
  5. [5]
    Riffle, Robert Lee; Paul Craft (2003). An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Timber Press. pp. 419–422. ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6.
  6. [6]
    Hodel, Don (1980). "Pritchardia in Hawaii" (PDF). Principes. 2 (24): 65–81. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  7. [7]
    "Pritchardia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  8. [8]
    "GRIN Species Records of Pritchardia". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  9. [9]
    Meilleur, Brien A. (June 2022). "Ancient Hawaiian house lots and their flora: a review of Great Māhele plant claims with a special focus on Pritchardia (loulu) palms". Revue d'ethnoécologie (21): 16–20. doi:10.4000/ethnoecologie.9104. ISSN 2267-2419. S2CID 252169028.
  10. [10]
    Chock, Alvin K. (1968). "Hawaiian Ethnobotanical Studies I. Native Food and Beverage Plants". Economic Botany. 22 (3): 232. doi:10.1007/BF02861956. ISSN 0013-0001. JSTOR 4252960. S2CID 33483410.

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