Pritchardia woodii Hodel, Palms (1999+). 51(Suppl.): S-44 (2007)

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Distribution

Map uses TDWG level 3 distributions (https://github.com/tdwg/wgsrpd)
Hawaiian Is. present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Moist to wet forest in Waihoi and Kipahulu Valleys, East Maui, Hawaii, 700-1000 m elevation. Pritchardia woodii occurs as groups of five to ten individuals scattered in Waihoi and Kipahulu Valleys, East Maul. (Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.)A

Discussion

  • Pritchardia woodii is very similar to P. lanigera but the latter differs in the rachillae and rachis covered with woolly indumentum. It is also somewhat similar to P. arecina, which occurs not too far to the northeast and north in East Maui but in slightly wetter areas; P. arecina, however, differs in having leaf blades completely covered abaxially with lepidia and petioles with an abundance of fibers proximally. (Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.)A

Diagnosis

  • P. lanigerae affinis sed rhachillis et rhachidibus velutinis differt. (Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.)A

Biology And Ecology

  • Associated genera include Cheirodendron, Labordia, Machaerina and Perrottetia. (Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.)A

Conservation

  • Potential threats include invasive plant species such as Clidemia hirta and Rubus rosifolius and pigs and rats. The conservation status of P. woodii is probably best considered endangered because of the small number of mature palms and the threats to their survival. It is cultivated at Hoomaluhia and Wahiawa Botanical Gardens of the Honolulu Botanical Gardens system on Oahu. (Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.)A

Etymology

  • The epithet honors Ken Wood, field botanist for the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kauai and prodigious collector of Hawaiian Pritchardia, including two of the paratypes of this species. (Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.)A

Description

  • Solitary, to 15 m tall; trunk 20-25 cm diam., grayish, longitudinally grooved. Leaves 15-20, erect to spreading; leaf bases tapering to 25 cm wide distally; petioles 60-105 em long, 3.5-4.5 cm wide at blade, flat distally, toward base becoming convex adaxially and rounded abaxially, a faint stripe or rib extending adaxially throughout its length, margins sharp (sword-like), green with white to tan mealy indumentum abaxially on margins extending onto folds of blade, 5-44 proximally with aggregated ribbon-like appendages and only sparsely to moderately fibrous; blade 80-130 x 100-145 cm, subcircular, costapalmate for 20-35 cm, hastula semicircular, 0.5-8 cm high, 4 cm Wide, sharp, blade divided into 55-70 segments, middlelateral ones the largest, 85-115 x 5 cm, most proximal ones smallest, 20-45 x 0.5-1 cm, middle-lateral segments with tips free for 35 cm and bifid for 25 cm, most proximal segment with tips free for 20-25 cm and bifid for 12 cm, tips rigid, long-acuminate, glossy light green and glabrous adaxially except for white mealy indumentum on folds, similar abaxially but moderately dotted with faint, minute, irregularly shaped, tan to whitish lepidia. Inflorescences 5-7 interfoliar, 75-135 cm long, erect and shorter than or equaling petioles in flower, arching or nodding and exceeding petioles but shorter than leaf blades in fruit, composed of 1 or 2 long axes each terminating in a compact panicle; axes 65-120 cm long, slender, 1.8-3 em wide and 1.1 cm thick at base with prophyll, 1-2 cm wide at apex and flattened, densely covered with grayish brown, short, velvety hairs under bracts; prophyll 25 x 7.5 cm, marescent at tip, flattened and bicarinate at base, 7-8 peduncular bracts, these 15-40 cm long, longest proximally, shortest distally, tightly sheathing proximally, expanded and boat-like distally, papery, brown, uppermost extending onto and partially concealing panicle, all bracts with scurfy, deciduous indumentum; panicle densely branched to 2 orders, 15-22 cm long, rachis 10-15 em long, proximal branches with sub-peduncle to 2.5 em long, sub-rachis 1.5 em long, and with 5-8 rachillae, distal branches simple rachillae, 20-25 rachillae total, rachillae 8-13 em long, 2 mm diam. in flower, 3-3.5 mm diam. in fruit, stiff, strongly flexuose, narrowly diverging (45 degrees or less) from rachis, densely covered in flower and fruit with short, velvety hairs, these white to grayish in flower, brownish in fruit. Flowers densely placed in 1 or 2 spiralling rows 3-5 mm apart, flowers 2 or 3 mm apart within a row, very strongly slanted or disposed distally, sometimes nearly reclining, in prominent clefts 1.5 mm deep, each cleft with a filamentous bracteole 4 or 5 mm long subtending the flower proximally; flowers at anthesis 9-10 x 7-10 mm, greenish yellow; calyx 5 mm high, coriaceous, greenish proximally, yellowish green distally, sepals imbricate at apex, mucronate; corolla tube about equaling calyx, lobes 6 x 3 mm, lanceolate, acute, light yellowish, prominently nerved adaxially, faintly nerved abaxially; staminal tube amber to brownish, exserted 1 mm above calyx, stamens spreading, borne on filaments 1 or 2 mm long, anthers 4 mm long, oblong, medifixed dorsally about 1/3 from their base, spreading flat; pistil 6-7 x 2 or 3 mm, spindle-shaped, ovary 2.5 x 2 mm, style 3.0-3.5 mm long, yellowish, exserted 2 or 3 mm above staminal ring, columnar, truncate apically. Fruits (not yet fully ripe) 45-50 x 5-46 40-45 mm, ovoid to ellipsoid, greenish, sometimes warty. (Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.)A

Materials Examined

  • U.S.A. Hawaii. Maui (E. Maui): Hana Forest Reserve, Waihoi Valley, S. side of valley near Waiohinu Stream, 900 m elev., 14 July 2006, D. R. Hodel 2009 (with R. Hobdy & K. Morris) (BISH); Herbst 2619 (BISH); Haleakala National Park, Kipahulu Valley, Wood 7683, 7687 (PTBG). CULT. U.S.A. Hawaii. Oahu: Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden, HBG 87.1439, Hodel 2011 (BISH), originally collected by R. Read and R. Hobdy, 16 Dec. 1987, Waihoi Valley, Maui; Wahiawa Botanical Garden, HBG 72.0617, Hodel 2012 (BISH), originally collected by D. Herbst, 24 July 1972, Waihoi Valley, Maui. (Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.)A

Bibliography

    A. Hodel, D. 2007. A Review of the Genus Pritchardia. Palms 51(4): Special Supplement S 1-53.
    B. World Checklist of Arecaceae