Large Trunking Butia in Arkansas

[austinl01]

On a trip to southern Arkansas over the Christmas holiday, I found what is probably the greatest palm discovery ever in the state. While driving through the small town of Dermott, located in southeast Arkansas on Highway 35, I saw a huge butia growing in a small front yard of an older house. I would imagine the palm is at 18 feet tall with a very awesome trunk. This is something that you'd see growing along the Gulf coast, not in Arkansas. The location of the town is at 33.5 latitude--the same as Birmingham, Alabama. The town is located in the upper reaches of Zone 8a on the USDA 1990 map. The bad news is that it was dusk when we traveled through, and I didn't have my digital camera. However, I did manage to get a couple of shots with my camera phone. I've lightened up the photos to show the palm a little better. Again, not the best shots in the world, but they'll have to do for now. I am declaring this the tallest pindo palm in the state of Arkansas if not the Mid-South. I was amazed when I saw it. I will head down to the area in the Spring to see if I can collect seeds and find out the history of this great palm!

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Very Cool Austin! When I lived outside of Little Rock in Otter Creek I would have never imagined a palm could grow anywhere in the state! That Butia is hugemungous!

[_Keith]

Great catch Austin. Thanks for being on the watch.

Of course now you have to top yourself. haha

[osideterry]

That's as sharp as a good UFO or bigfoot photo.

[_Keith]

That's as sharp as a good UFO or bigfoot photo.

Terry, I think you have just named this palm. "Arkansas Butiafoot"

[DoomsDave]

Austin!

First, welcome to our merry little band!

Second, there is no mistaking that Butea profile in the gathering dusk.

Third . . . .

Happy New Year!

[fastfeat]

Cool!!

Lack of pic quality excused for uniqueness of locale...

[NBTX11]

Looks like something you would see in the FL panhandle!!

[kakariki]

Nice to hear about these fringe elements, you never know what will work out.

[PalmGuyWC]

Amazing find Austin. I'm curious, does anyone know how far north Butias can be found in Georgia? I remember there used to be lots growing in Douglas and Waycross Ga, but that's pretty far south. I wonder if they grow as far north as Macon or Atlanta? There is a natural stand of Rhapidophyllum and Sabal minor growing a few miles north of Montezuma Ga. near the Flint river. As I recall, Macon is the geographic center of Georgia.

Dick

[austinl01]

Thanks everyone! There are two reporting sites near Dermott, AR where the butia is located. Monticello, AR is to the west and Greenville, MS is to the east. I've looked up some low temps on Weather Underground for these cities.

Monticello, AR

1999: 14

2000: ?

2001: 9

2002: 16

2003: 14

2004: 16

2005: 21

2006: ?

2007: 0

2008: 17

Greenville, MS

1980: 12

1981: 17

1982: 5

1983: 12

1984: 12

1985: 6

1986: 20

1987: 7

1988: 15

1989: ?

1990: 19

1991: 12

1992: 17

1993: 23

1994: 16

1995: 18

1996: 7

1997: 15

1998: 24

1999: 17

2000: ?

2001: 12

2002: 19

2003: 12

2004: 0 (questionable)

2005: 21

2006: 18

2007: 19

2008: 17

[chris78]

Amazing find Austin. I'm curious, does anyone know how far north Butias can be found in Georgia? I remember there used to be lots growing in Douglas and Waycross Ga, but that's pretty far south. I wonder if they grow as far north as Macon or Atlanta?

Dick

Dick

I seen them as far north as Lake City and Florence, South Carolina.....when I use to visit my grandmom who lived there......

[austinl01]

It looks like they do grow quite well in Macon, GA. Here's a link: Palms of Macon

[NBTX11]

Thanks everyone! There are two reporting sites near Dermott, AR where the butia is located. Monticello, AR is to the west and Greenville, MS is to the east. I've looked up some low temps on Weather Underground for these cities.

Monticello, AR

1999: 14

2000: ?

2001: 9

2002: 16

2003: 14

2004: 16

2005: 21

2006: ?

2007: 0

2008: 17

Greenville, MS

1980: 12

1981: 17

1982: 5

1983: 12

1984: 12

1985: 6

1986: 20

1987: 7

1988: 15

1989: ?

1990: 19

1991: 12

1992: 17

1993: 23

1994: 16

1995: 18

1996: 7

1997: 15

1998: 24

1999: 17

2000: ?

2001: 12

2002: 19

2003: 12

2004: 0 (questionable)

2005: 21

2006: 18

2007: 19

2008: 17

I'm really skeptical of those zero temps in 04 and 07. I don't remember any significant bad cold snaps those years. North TX didn't drop anywhere near that, and their climate is almost identical to S. Ark. Dallas didn't drop below the mid 20s last winter (07-08). You've also got one station dropping to 19 in 2007 and the other zero the same year.

[fastfeat]

It looks like they do grow quite well in Macon, GA. Here's a link: Palms of Macon

Cool page!

Got to love the fat W. filifera (or hybrid) on Second Street in Macon.

[NBTX11]

My rough guess is SE of a line from Macon GA to Columbia SC.

[PalmGuyWC]

Thanks guys for posting the link on Macon Ga. It blows my mind that so many palms could be grown so far north in Ga. I thought there might be a palm scattered here and there, but it looks like they are everywhere in Macon. The palms look healthy and robust and some have good size too. I notice there were no Butiagrus but maybe that stretching it to far. I wonder if it's to hot there in the summer for Jubaeas? I bet a Bujubaea would grow there.

Thanks again,

Dick

[PalmGuyWC]

BTW, my hat is off to Alan Taylor who put the Ga. palms site together. It's one of the nicest sites I've visited and worth viewing even if your not interested in hardy palms. A lot of time and effort went into this site.

Dick

[carolinapalms]

I live on the border on North and South Carolina (Near Charlotte). We have Butia growing all around. I pass one on the way to work everyday that is pretty tall. I will try to get pic someday.

[austinl01]

Some of you may remember my post a while back about the large butia I found in southern Arkansas. I had a chance to visit the palm again and here are some good pictures of it. I have no other information on the palm other than it's old!

Edited October 27, 2009 by austinl01

[PalmatierMeg]

Beautiful palm. Looks like it's seeding. Were you able to collect any? Surely it has some coldhardy genes.

[fastfeat]

Austin--

Thanks again for re-visiting this tree. Looks GREAT!

Too bad I forgot all about the Macon, GA palm list! I was just through there last week to and from Suwanee, GA (where I saw no palms, except for a sad $200 15 gal Adonidia suffering outside in a garden center, just before the first frost about 10 days ago...The frost might have been it's saviour, actually...)

Having spent two weeks in the Atlanta area (probably very similar temps to the AR location), I've got a new appreciation of how special that palm is in that locale.

[Zeeth]

Pretty nice! It would be neat if they planted other palms like Trachycarpus fortunei, Sabal palmetto, and some tropical looking plants like Musa basjoo along with this Butia.

[Alberto]

It looks like the big spathes shows brown (tomentum?) in that case it is a B.eriospatha that is the species that grows in the coldest habitat of all the butia species.

[palman]

Nice to see them pushing the limits & getting away with it!

How about a mule palm up there in Arkansas?

[PalmGuyWC]

I have 3 mules growing in Walnut Creek, and they must be about 35 years old. They were all "natural" hybrids from central Florida. None of the 3 look the same. One looks more butia like, another is a giant with a 22" diamater trunk, and the other looks like a "typical" mule. They all survived the great freeze of 89/90 when my low was 14 F and many nights in the teens and lower 20's. Since there is so much variation in form, I wonder if some are more cold hardy than others?

I remember the typical looking one had severe foliage burn except the 3 or 4 newest fronds which were more or less vertical and remained green. Does anyone know where the northern most mule is growing and what lows it might have been exposed to? It took 2 years for mine to recover and have a full crown of fronds, but no visable permanent damage. Even some of my butias had minor damage to the tips of the lower fronds in the big freeze.

Dick

[Kris]

Dear Austin

fentastic visuals...thanks for updating this thread.

love,

kris

[Alex High]

On 12/31/2008 at 7:46 PM, austinl01 said:

On a trip to southern Arkansas over the Christmas holiday, I found what is probably the greatest palm discovery ever in the state. While driving through the small town of Dermott, located in southeast Arkansas on Highway 35, I saw a huge butia growing in a small front yard of an older house. I would imagine the palm is at 18 feet tall with a very awesome trunk. This is something that you'd see growing along the Gulf coast, not in Arkansas. The location of the town is at 33.5 latitude--the same as Birmingham, Alabama. The town is located in the upper reaches of Zone 8a on the USDA 1990 map. The bad news is that it was dusk when we traveled through, and I didn't have my digital camera. However, I did manage to get a couple of shots with my camera phone. I've lightened up the photos to show the palm a little better. Again, not the best shots in the world, but they'll have to do for now. I am declaring this the tallest pindo palm in the state of Arkansas if not the Mid-South. I was amazed when I saw it. I will head down to the area in the Spring to see if I can collect seeds and find out the history of this great palm!

 

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that massive Butia has died. I saw the palm on Google Maps streetview, and in May 2014 it appeared to be dying, with the fronds turning brown, and in October 2019, the palm was completely gone. I will put pictures of it below. Sorry for the sad news. That was one magnificent palm.

[kinzyjr]

2 hours ago, PalmsUSA said:

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that massive Butia has died. I saw the palm on Google Maps streetview, and in May 2014 it appeared to be dying, with the fronds turning brown, and in October 2019, the palm was completely gone. I will put pictures of it below. Sorry for the sad news. That was one magnificent palm.

Not the news anyone wanted to hear, but thank you for following up on this!

[Alex High]

35 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Not the news anyone wanted to hear, but thank you for following up on this!

Thank you! I was reading through this thread earlier and I went on Google Maps to try and find the palm, hopeful that is was still there, and when I found the house and discovered that the palm was gone, I figured I should share the sad news with my fellow palm lovers. I know it is not the news people wanted to hear, but I figured a sad loss such as this must be remembered. Thanks again and take care!

PalmsUSA

Edited December 15, 2020 by PalmsUSA

[MaxM]

On 12/14/2020 at 3:49 PM, Alex High said:

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that massive Butia has died. I saw the palm on Google Maps streetview, and in May 2014 it appeared to be dying, with the fronds turning brown, and in October 2019, the palm was completely gone. I will put pictures of it below. Sorry for the sad news. That was one magnificent palm.

Fun fact: my uncle grew up in this house in 60s and 70s. So it was a very old palm! His mother brought it up from Florida. And every year they would build a small greenhouse around it to protect it in the winter. This is the route we would take to visit my grandmas family in Lake Village always passing the palm. We were so sad when it died. It was strange as we didn’t have a super cold winter that year, maybe a disease. But just thought I would share a personal connection to that palm. Such a small world to find a connection on a plant forum!

[ryjohn]

Dermot is about 50 miles further north than I am here near Sterlington, LA.  I too drive through that area regularly, and it would never surprise me to find a mature Butia in there.  After 12 years of very mild winters,  we have now had three 6-10F winters in northeast Louisiana since 2018.  300’ wide bayous in the area completely iced over.  2018 was one of them if I remember correctly. Most butias in my yard and around town handled these winters unprotected just fine.  There are some tall ones that size around here with wider crowns than that Dermot gem (RIP).