Prehistoric Dry Forests
The plant composition of Hawaii's dry forests has changed rather dramatically since the arrival of Polynesians, excluding the deliberate introduction of non-native species. Fossilized pollen has shown that loulu (Pritchardia spp.) forests with an understory of Ka palupalu o Kanaloa (Kanaloa kahoolawensis) and ʻaʻaliʻi (Dodonaea viscosa) existed on the islands' leeward lowlands from at least before 1210 B.C. until 1565 A.D. Populations of loulu and ʻaʻaliʻi still exist in diminished form, while only two Ka palupalu o Kanaloa specimens have ever been seen in the wild.
Read more about this topic: Hawaiian Tropical Dry Forests
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