as an Exceptional Tree of Hawai'i. Cultivation and uses Native Hawaiians valued the fruits of Pritchardia as a food source. The immature fruits, called hāwane or wāhane, were gathered and the endosperm was eaten (tasting like coconut meat). Leaves were also collected to use for thatching roofs, as well as for making fans, umbrellas, hats, and baskets. The trunks were also used for making spears and as material for construction. Hawaiian Pritchardia are especially popular among growers and collectors in subtropical areas or in regions with a Mediterranean climate, such as southern California, Southern Europe, and southern Australia, because they are more tolerant of cooler temperatures than their South Pacific counterparts, Pritchardia pacifica and Pritchardia thurstonii. Conservation Pritchardia schattaueri is officially listed as a Critically endangered species. There are 12 individuals remaining in the wild, all on private land. Threats include urbanization, severe habitat degradation, rats, pigs, cattle and weeds. No seedling recruitment and relatively small overall numbers prohibit regeneration. Its narrow, restricted range increases susceptibility to a single disruptive event, such as a hurricane or volcanic activity, and to potential damage from introduced weeds, animals and disease. Although all palms are mature and produce regularly, their habitat is so altered that regeneration is non-existent. All twelve plants are tall and old and perhaps approaching the end of their natural lives. Some have a generally unthrifty appearance, with much-reduced, hemispherical crowns of leaves and minimal flower and fruit production. In 2001, seed from all 12 Pritchardia schattaueri was collected by the Kona Palm Society. The Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden ensured their propagation. A partnership was formed between the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy to reintroduce the endangered seedlings in significant numbers at the Conservancy's Kona Hema Preserve. The Kona Hema site was selected for its close proximity to the founder seed trees, and also because the entire 8,000-acre preserve was fenced and free of hooved animals, something that had never been done at this scale in the Kona landscape. The site provided ideal conditions for protecting an out-planted endangered species and ensuring its survival into the future. Since the initial planting, many more seeds have been collected and planted. Because they came from a very small population, it was important to have as much genetic variability as possible, so the founder tree of each seedling was tracked and a GPS point recorded. Today there are