Kilauea pritchardia

The Essence

"Pritchardia beccariana is one of the tallest members of its genus, a solitary Hawaiian fan palm restricted to the island of Hawaiʻi, on the northeastern and eastern slopes of Mauna Loa in the wet forests near Hilo. Joseph Rock found it in December 1914 by Glenwood near Kīlauea at about 3,500 ft and formally described it in 1916, honouring his friend and coworker Odoardo Beccari; he wrote to Beccari that it was "a beautiful palm of fine symmetry... a very distinct species and very different from any other Pritchardia known to me." Rock later sent Beccari material collected at 4,200 ft on land opposite the residence of Walter M. Giffard, who helped collect it, and urged him to describe it as a new species; Beccari judged the smaller habit, leaves, stalks and fruits to be effects of the higher elevation and instead erected the variety giffardiana, today treated as a synonym. Mature trees rise far above a canopy of ʻōhiʻa and tree ferns in the ʻŌlaʻa forest of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, where they can be seen from Wright Road (Highway 148); it is one of five loulu species native to Hawaiʻi Island. The species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with NatureServe rating it Critically Imperiled. Habitat loss, weed invasion, insects and the destruction of seedlings by rats and pigs are the main threats. Palmpedia notes that within uncleared forest outside the park it is "not considered rare," but that the barriers to reproduction warrant close observation. In cultivation it is rare, though often available from palm specialty nurseries; Palms For California rates it poorly suited to high-wind sites, where the leaves shred progressively as the palm gains height, and warns that some petioles are sharp-edged. It bears a striking resemblance to the Fiji fan palm (Pritchardia pacifica) and to Thurston's fan palm (P. thurstonii)."

Early Hawaiians ate the immature fruits, called hāwane or wāhane, peeling them for the soft endosperm, which tastes like coconut meat. The leaves (lau hāwane) were used for thatching and made into fans, umbrellas, hats (pāpale) and baskets, and the trunks of taller loulu were fashioned into spears and used as construction material. Trunks were notched to allow climbing for immature fruit and fronds, and old notches remain visible on some trees today.