Tree Mold Evidence of Loulu Palm ( Pritchardia sp.) Forest on the Kona Coast, Hawai'i

Abstract

Lava flows at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park on the island of Hawai'i contain tree molds identified as native loulu (Pritchardia sp.) palms on the basis of gross morphology and surface features and patternings. The vegetation is reconstructed as loulu forest with an admixture of dicot species, represented by branched molds. Occurrence of loulu forest at @1000 b.p. (calibrated radiocarbon dates on charcoal from beneath the flow) suggests that these palms persisted into the early period of Polynesian settlement on the Kona coast and that Pritchardia was an important component of precontact vegetation in this area.

Colonization time on island settings: lessons from the Hawaiian and Canary Island floras

“…This is often the case of oceanic island plants: soft plant tissues rarely fossilize on volcanic substrates, and the preservation of alternative paleobotanical records (e.g. leaf imprints, pollen) is also limited or subject to different interpretations with regard to taxonomic identification (see Woodcock & Kalodimos, 2005;Góis-Marques et al, 2019). More recently, the development of molecular approaches has offered a useful tool for biogeographic dating of plant groups lacking fossils, thanks to the application of alternative sources for calibration (Forest, 2009;Ho et al, 2015).…”

Les anciennes parcelles à usage d'habitation hawaïennes et leur flore : une analyse des revendications du Grand Māhele, axée spécifiquement sur les palmiers Pritchardia (loulu)

“…15 The widespread natural distribution of loulu palm species in the Hawaiian Islands prior to Polynesian settlement has been demonstrated by pollen core analyses (Athens 1997;Athens & Ward 1993 : 211), fossil presence (Burney et al 2001) and tree mold evidence (Woodcock and Kalodimos 2005). Early botanical treatments recognized two species in Hawaiʽi (Hillebrand 1888 : 450)-P. gaudichaudii, called loulu lelo (but see Kamakau 1976 : 152), and P. martii, called loulu hiwa-though neither of these Hawaiian epithets returned records in the NR FT. Hillebrand suggested then that more species warranted recognition.…”

Eurya stigmosa (Theaceae), a new and extinct record for the Calabrian stage of Madeira Island (Portugal): 40Ar/39Ar dating, palaeoecological and oceanic island palaeobiogeographical implications

“…The literature shows that plant macrofossils exist on several oceanic islands, such as Hawaii (e.g. Lyon, 1930;Walker, 1995;Woodcock and Kalodimos, 2005;Woodcock and Maekawa, 2006), Marianas (Fosberg and Corwin, 1958), Gal apagos (e.g. Coffey et al, 2011), Marquesas (Plessis et al, 1978, Tristan da Cunha (e.g.…”