Pritchardia minor

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Pritchardia minor
Specimen growing in Auckland, New Zealand.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Arecales Family: Arecaceae Genus: Pritchardia Species: P. minor
Binomial name
Pritchardia minor Becc.

Pritchardia minor, the Alakai Swamp Pritchardia or Loulu, is a palm native to Hawaii. It grows in wet forest in the centre of Kauai at about 1400 meters in altitude.

[edit] Description

The Alakai Swamp Pritchardia grows up to 12 metres high, and forms a trunk with a diameter of approximately 100 mm. The leaves are yellowish when they emerge, and this color is sometimes maintained on the undersides of mature leaves. The leaves are leathery and smooth above, but the undersides are waxy and have a covering of greyish to yellowish tomentum (felt) beneath. The shiny black fruits of this palm are ovoid, about 2 cm by 13mm, and contain a seed up to 15 mm in diameter. It is not endangered.

[edit] Cultivation

This palm prefers a sunnywell drained but moist position.

[edit] References

• Palm and Cycad Society of AustraliaPritchardia minor, accessed 28 April 2008.
• Jones, David L, 1995. Palms Throughout the World. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington DC.