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Pritchardia lowreyana; photograph David Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BYDavid Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pritchardia lowreyana Rock ex Becc.

Lowrey's loulu; Moloka'i pritchardia; Molokaʻi pritchardia

Arecaceae · Hawaii

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Pritchardia lowreyana, photograph David Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPritchardia lowreyana, photograph David Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPritchardia lowreyana, photograph David Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPritchardia lowreyana, photograph Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons 5 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
16.0°C
Record low 14.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
24°C
Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,155mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–47DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, November to April (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 5 records in 4 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Pritchardia lowreyana, the Molokai pritchardia, is a species of fan palm that is endemic to Hawaii in the United States. It is found in mixed mesic and wet forests on the island of Molokaʻi. P. lowreyana reaches a height of 2–4 m (6.6–13.1 ft), and normally grows in gulches and on cliffs. It was named in 1918 for Cherilla Storrs Lowrey (1861–1918), an American clubwoman active in tree-planting and beautification projects around Honolulu.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Pritchardia lowreyana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Pritchardia

The genus Pritchardia consists of between 24 and 40 species of fan palms found on tropical Pacific Ocean islands in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tuamotus, and most diversely in Hawaii. The generic name honors William Thomas Pritchard (1829–1907), a British consul at Fiji.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Pritchardia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (826 mm of 1,157 mm) falls in November to April. The temperature curve is flat, 3.0 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,157 mm in the median year at the habitat, 826 mm of it November to April. Wettest month December at 173 mm, driest month June at 35 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 997 mm to 1,230 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,155 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,157 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 47 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 16.0 °C, the absolute minimum 14.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 25.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.4 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 17.7 °C to 20.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.7 °C in September (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 65 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +598 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 5 records in 4 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Pritchardia lowreyana through the yearWarmest months August and September, mean daily high 24 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 19.4 °C; 1,157 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°25.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER14.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 25–47RH 65–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 4 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C21 / 20–2321 / 19–2221 / 19–2221 / 19–2222 / 20–2323 / 21–2423 / 22–2524 / 22–2524 / 22–2523 / 22–2523 / 21–2422 / 20–23
Night °C20 / 18–2119 / 18–2120 / 18–2120 / 18–2121 / 19–2222 / 20–2322 / 20–2322 / 21–2422 / 21–2422 / 21–2422 / 20–2321 / 19–22
Rain mm154 / 140–168105 / 95–113161 / 140–17196 / 79–10161 / 53–6435 / 27–3747 / 34–4947 / 35–5049 / 38–5292 / 80–98137 / 121–147173 / 150–187
DLI26 / 26–2732 / 31–3337 / 37–3842 / 42–4346 / 46–4747 / 46–4846 / 45–4744 / 44–4541 / 40–4134 / 34–3528 / 27–2925 / 24–26
RH %65 / 63–6765 / 62–6765 / 63–6766 / 63–6866 / 63–6766 / 64–6767 / 65–6867 / 64–6866 / 64–6766 / 64–6766 / 64–6865 / 63–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 4 grid cells holding the 5 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1377:463 (21.125, -156.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 25.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 4 distinct grid cells holding 5 of the 5 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1377:463 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 21.00_-156.875, lapse-corrected +598 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 675 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeHawaii · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker21.163, -156.831 · in the densest population, 7 records (88% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 8 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 5 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 4 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 67 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the map and the climate. 3 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 8 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Pritchardia lowreyana, photograph 1did not loadPritchardia lowreyana, photograph 2did not loadPritchardia lowreyana, photograph 3did not loadPritchardia lowreyana, photograph 4did not load

Photographs: David Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3); Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Pseudognaphalium sandwicensium Pseudognaphalium sandwicensium 'Ena'ena Photo: CC BY, David Anderson Xylosma hawaiensis Salicaceae Microsorum spectrum Microsorum spectrum Triploid fern Photo: CC0, author not statedPlanchonella sandwicensis Planchonella sandwicensis Sapotaceae Photo: CC BY, Brynn FrickeSantalum ellipticum Santalum ellipticum Coastal sandalwood Photo: CC0, author not statedPolyscias sandwicensis Polyscias sandwicensis Hawaiian reynoldsia Photo: CC BY, Neal Kelso

Other Pritchardia 24 in the reference

Pritchardia arecina Pritchardia arecina Maui pritchardia Photo: CC BY, Forest & Kim StarrPritchardia bakeri Pritchardia bakeri Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Kevin FaccendaPritchardia beccariana Pritchardia beccariana Kilauea pritchardia Photo: CC BY, Kevin Faccenda Pritchardia flynnii Flynn's Loulu Pritchardia forbesiana Pritchardia forbesiana Mt. Eke pritchardia Photo: CC BY, Forest and Kim StarrPritchardia glabrata Pritchardia glabrata Lana'i Pritchardia Photo: CC BY, Forest & Kim Starr Pritchardia gordonii Arecaceae Pritchardia hardyi Pritchardia hardyi Hardy's Loulu Photo: CC BY, Drew AveryPritchardia hillebrandii Pritchardia hillebrandii Hillebrand's Loulu Photo: Public domain, StickpenPritchardia kaalae Pritchardia kaalae Waianae Range pritchardia Photo: CC0, author not statedPritchardia lanigera Pritchardia lanigera Lo'ulu Photo: CC BY, David Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii…Pritchardia maideniana Pritchardia maideniana Hawai'i pritchardia Photo: CC BY, Richard Jacob all 25 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Pritchardia brevicalyx; Pritchardia donata; Pritchardia lowreyana var. turbinata; Pritchardia macrocarpa. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
Rock ex Becc.
Native to
Hawaii
Wild records
8 in range · 4 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 21.00_-156.875, lapse-corrected +598 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 5 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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