The fan palms of Hawaii are big trees with big leaves and big fruits. They are distinguished from other palms by their leaves, which have pleats like a fan and are more or less fan-shaped. Landscape gardeners love their dramatic appearance and use them to fill large, open spaces in urban settings. These fan palms, called loulu in Hawaiian, are actually the only native palms in Hawaii. All the other palms, including the useful coconut palm and the lofty royal palm, were imported. Loulu belong to the plant genus Pritchardia. Pritchardia had a burst of creativity when it arrived in Hawaii. There are 27 species in that genus, and all but three are endemic to Hawaii.
And the Big Island is the native home to five of those species. Here they are: Pritchardia beccariana, gordonii, lanigera, maideniana, and schattaueri. Identification of individual species is difficult, even for the experts. So, mostly people go by where they are located. For instance, beccariana is on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea, gordonii in the Kohala mountains and maideniana in the lower regions of Kona and Ka’u (these can be seen right on Punalu’u Black Sand Beach).
It may seem, since loulu are found on all the islands and even used in landscaping, that these trees are in good shape. But, alas, in their native environment they are viewed as threatened or endangered. P. gordonii in Kohala has only a couple of dozen specimens left. It all comes down to the usual suspects, habitat loss, rats, pigs, etc. But if you can provide a safe home for these big guys, they will prove robust and thrive.
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