Pritchardia viscosa

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Pritchardia viscosa

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Genus: Pritchardia
Species: P. viscosa
Binomial name
Pritchardia viscosa
Becc.

Pritchardia viscosa (Lo'ulu or Stickybud Pritchardia) is an extremely rare endangered species of Pritchardia palm known only in the Kalihiwai Valley on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where it grows at 400-700 m altitude.

It is a medium-sized palm from 6-8 m tall, with palmate (fan-shaped) leaves about 1 m long. The fruit is produced in dense clusters, each fruit green, pear-shaped, 4 cm long and 2.5 cm diameter.

Like the related Pritchardia remota (Nihoa Fan Palm), it is susceptible to extiction by a single catastrophic event because of its wild population of four individuals. It is threatened by introduced rats, which eat the seeds. It has been cultivated to a moderate extent, but is exceptionally limited in its habitat.

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