THE ENDEMIC PALMS OF HAWAII: PRITCHARDIA 



VAUGHAN MacCAUGHEY 



All of the native Hawaiian palms are endemic, and are members 

 of the genus Pritchardia. The exact botanic status of a number 

 of fonns is still unsettled, but it is entirely evident that Pritchardia 

 in Hawaii has manifested the same polymorphic tendencies in 

 evolution that characterize many other distinctively Hawaiian 

 plant and anmial genera. 



The writer has been particularly interested in field studies of 

 the Hawaiian species of Pritchardia, and in the recognition of 

 their large ecological variations. It is his mature conclusion 

 that all of the Hawaiian forms have evolved from one or possibly 

 two prhnitive ancestral stocks; that new fonns are developing at 

 the present time; and that many of the described ''species" are 

 in reaUty only sub-species or varieties. ^ The descriptions in the 

 literature have been in many instances, based upon very limited 

 herbarium material, and have by no means taken into full ac- 

 count the ecologic f actors. ^ These latter are of unusual impor- 

 tance in any critical study of Hawaiian organisms. 



The genus was established by Seemann and Wendland in 

 Bonplandia (9, 1861, p. 260 and 10, 1862, pp. 197, 310 t. 15). 

 The generic characters were defined as follows: 



Flores hermaphroditi, sessiles. Spathfe 00 cylindricae, subcompletae. 

 Perigonium externis campanulatum, 3-denticulatum, interius 3- 

 phyllum, phyllis basi truncato-cordatis cum staminum cyHndro con- 

 natis, (Icciduis, presefloratione valvata. Stamina 6, siibsequalia ; fila- 

 mentis in tubum brevem connatis, antice liveris lanceolatisque ; an- 

 theris oblongo-lanceolatis dorso affixis. Ovarium 3-loculare, ovalis 



1 For an extended discussion of the evolution of species and varieties in the 

 Hawaiian fauna and flora see Vaughan MacCaughey, Outstanding Biological 

 Features of the Hawaiian Archipelago, American Naturalist, in press. 



2 See Forests of the Hawaiian Islands, Vaughan MacCaughey, The Plant World 

 20: 162-166, June 1916. 



317 



