Confirmed coconut palm spotted along a Kona street
iNaturalist: jeremypmccann
Native Plants
Next time you walk a tropical coastline, this kind of everyday sighting shows how anyone with a phone can help scientists track where coconut palms actually grow, not just where people assume they do.
Someone out for a walk on Ali'i Drive in Kailua-Kona spotted a coconut palm and logged it on iNaturalist, where other experts checked the photos and confirmed the identification. It's now a verified, research-grade record, meaning scientists can trust and use this exact location and date in their data.
Key Findings
Observation reached 'research-grade' status on iNaturalist, meaning the identification was confirmed by community consensus
Location pinpointed to Ali'i Drive across from Hualalai Road in Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
Species confirmed: Cocos nucifera (coconut palm), a common coastal tree in tropical Hawaii
chevron_right Technical Summary
A coconut palm was confirmed and verified along Ali'i Drive in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, adding a documented data point to citizen-science records of this iconic tropical species in an urban coastal setting.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) observed in Ali'i Drive @ Across from Hualalai Road, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA
Research-grade observation of coconut palm in Ali'i Drive @ Across from Hualalai Road, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA.
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
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The coconut is a member of the palm family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus Cocos. The term "coconut" can denote the whole coconut palm tree or the large hard fruit. Originally native to the Central Indo-Pacific, they are ubiquitous in coastal tropical regions.