Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_ptychosperma_propinquum
Macarthur Palm
Ptychosperma propinquum
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About Macarthur Palm
Macarthur Palm (Ptychosperma propinquum) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Native from western and southern New Guinea to northern Australia in wet tropical forest. Clustering stems and bird-consumed red fruits support local persistence. Government forest-reserve surveys in 2015 document the palm as naturalized on Kauaʻi; no Bishop exact-row claim is added and current extent is unknown.
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
- Ptychosperma propinquum
- Common names
- Macarthur Palm
- Other names
- Ptychosperma propinquum · Macarthur palm · Ptychosperma macarthurii
- 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
- Present island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects have not been quantified; no invasive severity is inferred from checklist or forestry status.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Flowers on infrafoliar branched inflorescences mature into red fleshy fruits with one seed. Fruit-eating animals can disperse seeds, while established clumps add stems vegetatively; local dispersers and recruitment rates are unknown.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Clustering 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
- Macarthur Palm (Ptychosperma propinquum) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Native from western and southern New Guinea to northern Australia in wet tropical forest. Clustering stems and bird-consumed red fruits support local persistence. Government forest-reserve surveys in 2015 document the palm as naturalized on Kauaʻi; no Bishop exact-row claim is added and current extent is unknown.