Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_livistona_chinensis
Chinese Fan Palm
Livistona chinensis
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About Chinese Fan Palm
Chinese Fan Palm (Livistona chinensis) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Native from southern Japan to southeastern China, Hainan, and Taiwan, chiefly in warm subtropical settings. On Kauaʻi it is checklist-documented as naturalized at island scale; current abundance, recruitment distribution, and ecological effects are not quantified.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Livistona chinensis
- Common names
- Chinese Fan Palm · Fountain palm
- Other names
- Livistona chinensis · Chinese fan palm · Fountain palm · Latania chinensis Jacq. · Saribus chinensis (Jacq.) Blume
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, reproductive distribution, population trend, and ecological effects on Kauaʻi remain unassessed.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Branched inflorescences produce many small flowers followed by dense clusters of fleshy blue-green fruits, each enclosing a seed. Recruitment requires fruit maturation, dispersal, germination, and establishment; Kauaʻi phenology, dispersers, and recruitment are unmeasured.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Palm tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Chinese Fan Palm (Livistona chinensis) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. Native from southern Japan to southeastern China, Hainan, and Taiwan, chiefly in warm subtropical settings. On Kauaʻi it is checklist-documented as naturalized at island scale; current abundance, recruitment distribution, and ecological effects are not quantified.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:668021-1
- https://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200027087
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx
- https://doi.org/10.5479/si.32124043