A beautiful South American palm with long recurving, pinnate leaves that arch groundwards from the top of a thick, stout trunk, which can grow, 12-15 ft (3.7-4.6 m) with a diameter of 1-1.5 ft (0.5-0.9 m). The leaf bases naturally stay on the trunk for some time, but look better when removed. The leaves range from light green to blue grey and grow up to 10 ft (3m) long. The leaf stems are from about 2-4 ft (0.6-1.2 m) in length and have hooked thorns along both edges.

It produces bright orange fruit  called pindo dates, and these also account for it other common name, the Jelley Palm. Butia  capitata can vary greatly from one individual to another. See the difference between the picture right, and below.

Specimens raised in dry poor soils tend to be gerally smaller, with smaller leaves. While those grown in shade are more lax and graceful looking. The leaves can be brittle and both leaflets and whole leaves can be damaged by strong winds.

Butia capitata may owe its variability to there being several other species which share much of its habitable range, with which it may hybridise.  B. yatay which resembles B. capitata but grows taller and has a thicker trunk. Other species include B. eriospatha and B. paraguayensis  All of these hybridize readily and it is suspected that many of the plants offered as B. capitata may be hybrids. Butia can also be crossed with Syagrus romanzoffiana (the queen palm).

Although the fruit is supposed to be delicious, there seems little evidence of it being grown commercially as a fruiting palm.

Flowers are numerous, very small creamy yellow to reddish flowers are borne on once-branched, 3-4 ft. long inflorescences bearing separate male and female flowers. Pollination is by wind and insects.

Fruit: The one-inch, yellow to orange-colored fruits are round to oval-shaped, and hang in large sprays from the tree. Each fruit contains a single seed. The sweet-tart flavor is reminiscent of both apricots and a pineapple-banana mixture. Harvest Jelly palm fruits as they ripen. If whole bunches are harvested, they tend to ripen all at once. The fruits can be eaten fresh and pureed, or used to make an excellent jelly as well as wine. They can be stored for about a week under refrigeration.

I bought my first Butia from the Palm Centre at Richmond in 1992. It was a Birthday present, and the most expensive palm I have bought, at the princley sum of £29. It was about 4ft above the pot. I can always remember Martin Gibbons, the owner, supervising the car loading, saying "be careful the leaves are more brittle than most", of course he was right, and the leaves do suffer some damage in high winds.

Bertie as I called it, had quite lax leaves, which drooped its leaflets for quite a few years. It was placed in various places in the garden for the next 2 years while I worked out where to plant it. The hardiness at the time was reputed to be around -6C which meant I was a little apprehensive about planting out as we still got -8C in those days.

My soil is pretty heavy aluvial clay which should mean palms don't like it, however the only palm that shows it's diapproval, by dying, is the Canary Island Date Palm, The Butias don't seem to object too much. Bertie was planted out in late spring 1994, and given fleece protection in it's first winter. Since that time no protection has been given, and Bertie has sailed through with no problems.

There are a few other palms in the butia family with yatay and odorata perhaps being less hardy that capitata, and the recently introduced eriospatha (Mountain Butia) which thrives in cool conditions. However, the best person to talk to about Butia and other South American Palms is Nigel Kembrey of Hardy Palms. He has a lot of experience, including field trips to the locations where the palms grow naturally, and is a major importer of palms of all sizes. Click the button to visit Hardy Palms.