Pritchardia perlmanii

Main Plant Information

Genus

Pritchardia

Species

perlmanii

Hawaiian Names with Diacritics

• Hāwane
• Loulu
• Noulu
• Wāhane

Hawaiian Names

• Hawane
• Loulu
• Noulu
• Wahane

Common Names

• Perlman’s loulu
• Waiʻoli Valley pritchardia

Plant Characteristics

Distribution Status

Endemic

Endangered Species Status

Federally Listed

Plant Form / Growth Habit

• Tree

Mature Size, Height (in feet)

• Tree, Small, 15 to 30

Life Span

Long lived (Greater than 5 years)

Landscape Uses

• Provides Shade
• Screening
• Specimen Plant

Plant Produces Flowers

Yes

Flower Characteristics

Flower Type

Showy

Flower Colors

• Yellow

Additional Flower Color Information

The yellow flowers are showy en masse.

Leaf Characteristics

Plant texture

• Coarse

Additional Plant Texture Information

Canopy is from 12 to 15 feet wide. [4]

Leaf Colors

• Gray / Silverish
• Medium Green

Additional Leaf Color Information

The leaf blades are green above and silvery gray below. [4]

Pests and Diseases

Growth Requirements

Fertilizer

Apply a complete palm fertilizer with minor elements as directed on label. Be certain that sufficient magnesium and potassium is present in the fertilizer component. This is especially critical for loulus in pots. Magnesium and potassium deficiencies are two of the most serious nutritional disorders in palms. The deficiencies are characterized by bright yellowing (chlorotic) on leaf edges or streaking or the entire fronds yellowing. This can be difficult to reverse. Applications of Epsom salt, or magnesium sulfate (MgSO4), is good but does not last and is usually washed out of the soil in rainy periods. There are some very good slow release fertilizer spikes made for especially for palms on the market which contain a good balance of minor elements with magnesium and potassium. [5,6]

Water Requirements

• Wet

Additional Water Information

Water requirements are based on habitat of this species.

Light Conditions

• Full sun

Additional Lighting Information

Full sun conditions are based on habitat in “open and much exposed areas.” (See “Additional Habitat Information.” )

Environmental Information

Natural Range

• Kauaʻi

Natural Zones (Elevation in feet, Rainfall in inches)

• 1000 to 1999, Greater than 100 (Wet)
• 2000 to 2999, Greater than 100 (Wet)

Habitat

• Terrestrial

Additional Habitat Information

Perlman’s loulu is found in wet and very wet forest on usually steep slopes and sometimes nearly vertical cliffs on the northern and northeastern face of Waiʻaleʻale (Lumahaʻi, Wainiha, and Hanalei valleys), including along the Powerline Trail near Summit Camp and just to the south on the Līhue side, and the northern and northwestern slopes of the Makaleha Mountains from about 1000 to 2000 feet elevation on Kauaʻi. [4]

Despite the high rainfall, the habitat is primarily low, scrubby forest with many shrubby plants, herbs, and grasses, and the palms are nearly always in open and much exposed, even as small plants, and is mostly accessible only by helicopter. It tend to replace Flynn’s loulu ( P. flynnii ), which occurs farther to the south on the eastern face of Waiʻaleʻale and the Kālihi Ridge. [4]

Special Features and Information

General Information

There are 26 species of Pritchardia in the Palm family (Aracaceae) of which 23 are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. [1]

Etymology

The generic name is named for William Thomas Pritchard (1829-1907), 19th century British counsul in Fiji, adventurer, and author of Polynesian Reminiscences in 1866.

The specific epithet perlmanii is named for Steve Perlman, botanist and Research Biologist for the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kauaʻi.

Hawaiian Names:

Loulu , pronounced low-loo, means “umbrella,” because the leaves were formerly used as protection from rain or sun.

The names Hāwane and Wāhane refers the fruit or nut of the loulu , but can also refer to the palm itself. The name is also used for a small red limu or seaweed ( Polysiphonia spp.). [2]

Loulu is the Hawaiian name for all species of Pritchardia in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The name has at times been misspelled as Loʻulu . However, Loʻulu , with ʻokina, is the name of the endemic Hawaiian fern Coniogramme pilosa . Loulu is also used for a species of filefish ( Alutera monoceros ), perhaps so called because its greenish-white skin resembled the loulu palm. It was used in sorcery to cause death because the name contains the word lou , to hook. [2]

Noulu is a variation of Loulu . [2]

Background Information

Fossil evidence show that loulu were once widely spread throughout the islands, especially in the lowlands.

Although unnamed at the time, visitors to Summit Camp on the Power Line Trail for many years easily recognized this small loulu having somewhat oval-shaped leaf blades with silvery gray undersides and hairless flower and fruit branchlets and could readily distinguish it from Hardy’s loulu ( P. hardyi ) and Waiʻaleʻale loulu ( Pritchardia waialealeana ), which grew nearby. Basing it on a collection that Ken Wood and Steve Perlman had made in the upper Waiʻoli Valley in 1991, it was in 1998 that Perlman’s loulu ( Pritchardia perlmanii ) was formally named and described by botanist Dr. Chrissen E.C. Gemmill. [4]

Regarding the man-made threats and the number of individuals of this rare species, Dr. Gemmill provided the following account: “In August 1992, S. Perlman, K. Wood, W. Hahn, and I visited a population of P. perlmanii located in the back of Waiʻoli Valley. We found approximately 30 individuals…of juveniles and adults…no seedlings were observed. This population was reduced to ca. 20 plants as a results of Hurricane ʻIniki, which passed directly over Waiʻoli Valley on 11 September 1992. …In addition to natural disasters, alien plants and feral animals (pigs, goats, and rats) present major threats to these plants.” [4,7]

Pritchardia perlmanii is similar to P. flynnii but differs in its wavy leaf blades and flower and fruit branchlets, which are densely covered with feltlike hairs. [4]

Early Hawaiian Use

Loulu ( Pritchardia spp.): The hard wood of the trunk of taller species of loulu were fashioned into spears by early Hawaiians.

The fruits called hāwane or wāhane were peeled and eaten by early Hawaiians. They collected young fruits. The flavor of young fruit with the soft interior is similar to coconut. The trunks loulu were notched for climbing to gather the immature fruits and fronds. Older specimens still bear notches that can be seen today. [3]

The fronds, or leaves, called lau hāwane were used by the early Hawaiians for thatching and more recently as plaiting such as papale (hats) and fans.

Additional References

[1] “A Review of the Genus Pritchardia " by Donald R. Hodel, pages S-3, S-8, S-38-39.

[2] Hawaiian Dictionaries http://www.wehewehe.org/ [accessed 12/30/09]

[3] “Loulu–The Hawaiian Pritchardia” by Donald R. Hodel, The Palm Journal #193, page 7.

[4] “Loulu: The Hawaiian Palm” by Donald R. Hodel, pages 131-132, 134, 135.

[5] http://donselman.homestead.com/page8.html [accessed 3/4/09] [6] http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/Articles/minerals.html [accessed 3/4/09]

[7] “A new narrow, endemic species of Pritchardia (Aracaceae) from Kauaʻi, Hawaiian Islands” by Chrissen E.C. Gemmill in Novon 8: 18-22.