Ni’ihau is known to have only one species of loulu. Up until the end of 2007, that species was named Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii, after the owner of that private island. However, as these things happen every so often, it was found that the species on Ni’ihau is actually a variety of Pritchardia remota. P. remota was primarily known to be the single endemic species of the Island of Nihoa.
Pritchardia remota, Foster Garden, Honolulu, Oahu
Pritchardia remota is endemic to the Island of Nihoa which is two hundred miles northwest of Oahu; it is the highest island of the leeward group. Sightings of this species growing on Nihoa have been noted since the middle of the nineteenth century. These palms are quite conspicuous; they are found in two colonies on the island comprised of several hundred individuals. The colonies are located in two valleys appropriately named West Palm Valley and East Palm Valley.
The location of the Pritchardia remota colonies on Nihoa is on account of the soil at the foot of basalt cliffs at the upper reaches of each valley where there is continual water seepage.
In recent literature on this species, we find that it was considered to have four naturally occurring varieties in Hawaii on the Islands of Kauai, Maui, Nihoa and Ni’ihau, all of which are rare and endangered, a few critically so. The epithet is Latin for “remote”, an allusion to the small island of Nihoa where the name was first used to label the native species there. That variety carried a repeat of the epithet to distinguish it from the others. The other three varieties at one time were considered separate species: Pritchardia remota var. aylmer-robinsonii is endemic to the privately owned Island of Ni’ihau, where only two individuals are left in the wild. The epithet honors the island’s former owner Aylmer Robinson. It is a large tree with a trunk that attains a height of fifty feet or more and a diameter of one foot. The leaf crown is hemispherical to nearly spherical and is open because of the length of the felt-covered petioles. The leaves are semicircular, deep, almost bluish green, with deep and pendent segments. This variety is not considered a separate species in Hodel’s “Review of the Genus Pritchardia“. Pritchardia remota var. glabrata is endemic to Maui, where it grows on steep slopes at elevations of 1500 to 2000 feet. It is little known and probably not in cultivation. (I do remember a tree labeled P. glabrata at the Maui Nui Botanical Garden when it was known as the Maui Zoo)
The epithet is Latin for “glabrous”. The glabrata variety is now considered a separate species, Pritchardia glabrata, endemic to the islands of Maui and Lanai.
Pritchardia remota var. napaliensis is also considered a separate species. Endemic to the Island of Kauai, known as Pritchardia napaliensis, it grows in lowland rain forest and is rare and endangered. The epithet is Latin for “of Na Pali“, a coastal region of Kauai. The trunk of this variety attains a height of 25 feet. The leaves are small, dark green and wedge shaped. This variety has smaller flowers and smaller, black fruit which have a thinner pericarp. The fruit are 7/8 inch long by 3/4 inch wide.
Pritchardia remota (formerly Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii), Muolea, Hana, Maui
This speciamen growing in Muolea along the Hana coast was formerly known as Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii. In a recent review of the genus, it has been determined that it is a variety of the species Pritchardia remota. This species is endemic to the Island of Ni’ihau.
Loulu, The Hawaiian Pritchardia 