Few other places in the world have the aura and life force found in Hawaii’s magnificent year round sunshine, crystal clear waters, and sandy beaches. The living species of plants and natural fauna from Hawaii are among the most sought after in the world for their raw exotic beauty and powerful unique life force that sprang from lava molten lava at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Loulu Palm History: A near Extinction

In the 1960s, Hoomau Ranch Manager George Schattauer discovered a rare, native palm on the South Kona property, owned by actor Jimmy Stewart. Schattauer’s discovery was a Loulu, eventually identified by the Honolulu Botanical Garden as a new species of Pritchardia that at the time grew only on Stewart’s ranch. It was also one of the state’s largest Pritchardias, able to grow up to 130 feet tall. He spotted the tree just as a tractor was about to clear an area of the ranch for pasture, including the palm tree that was already more than 100 feet tall.

Thirty years ago, only a dozen of the trees were known to exist, all on Hoomau Ranch. Today, The Nature Conservancy has more than 600 Loulu growing in its Kona Hema Preserve. The trees that the Nature Conservancy has been planting there will likely live much longer than he’ll be working at the preserve, he said. The trees can live upwards of 200 years, according to some estimates.

The tree probably thrived on the island prior to the arrival of humans, he said. The introduction of pigs and later rats was likely the cause of the tree’s eventual demise. The tree makes a unique rustling sound when the wind blows.