U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

DIVISION OF ENDANGERED SPECIES

(Adapted from the Federal Register for Friday, March 4, 1994)

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

RIN 1018-AB89

Pritchardia affinis of the palm family (Arecaceae) is a fan-leaved tree 33 to 82 ft (10 to 25 m) tall with pale or pinkish soft wool covering the underside of the petiole and extending onto the leaf blade. The wedge-shaped leaf has a green and smooth upper surface and a pale green lower surface with scattered yellowish scales. The branched, hairless flower clusters are located among the leaves. Each flower comprises a cup-shaped, three-lobed calyx; three petals; six stamens; and a three-lobed stigma. The spherical fruit is about 0.9 in (2.3 cm) in diameter. This species is distinguished from other species of Pritchardia by the long, tangled, woolly hairs on the underside of the petiole and the base of the lower leaf blade; the stout hairless flower clusters which do not extend beyond the wedge-shaped leaves; and the smaller, spherical fruit (Read and Hodel 1990).

Historically, Pritchardia affinis was found only on the island of Hawaii in the Kohala Mountains and along the western and southeastern coasts. Today, scattered individuals of the species can be found throughout much of the historically known coastal range at Kiholo, at Kukio, near Palani Road, on Alii Drive in Kailua, in Captain Cook, at Hookena, at Milolii, and at Punaluu. Most plants grow within areas of human habitation or development, and the trees may have been cultivated by Hawaiians or others rather than having occurred in these areas naturally. There are an estimated 50 to 65 known ndividuals at 8 or more localities which extend along about 110 mi (180 km) along the coast on privately and State-owned land (HHP 1991t1 to 1991t6; Norman Bezona, Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service, Brien Meilleur, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, and P. Weissich, pers. comms., 1992). This species typically grows in Coastal Mesic Forests at coastal sites or in gulches further inland at elevations between sea level and 2,000 ft (0 and 610 m), possibly associated with brackish water (HHP 1991t2, Read and Hodel 1990; C. Corn, pers. comm., 1992).

The major threats to Pritchardia affinis are predation on seeds by roof rats, development of land where individuals grow, and stochastic extinction and/or reduced reproductive vigor due to the small number of existing individuals. In the past, the species' natural habitat was cleared for agriculture and housing, and feral pigs destroyed seedlings of the species, preventing regeneration (Beccari and Rock 1921, Hull 1980; C. Corn, pers. comm., 1992).