Found a Butia eriospatha growing in my front yard!

[Bigfish]

Ok, I see it every day, but wasn’t sure what species it was.  I used to live in Middle Tennessee (USA), and my folks were in Gainesville, Florida.  I kept lots of potted palm there, underneath a Live Oak tree, in the irrigation zone.  So they were neglected, but most of them didn’t die.  I started a bunch of seeds from RPS in the mid-late-2000s and took them to Gainesville when they got a little size.  Eliminated the need for a greenhouse in TN, since just about everything I was growing had some cold-hardiness.  Mom decided to plant this Butia probably a little over 10 years ago, but the tag was lost.  So it was just a guess what it was.  I thought it could have been the rare Butia capitata, since I had a couple of them from RPS seeds.  Or maybe B. catarinensis.  It was definitely not any of the dwarf species.  Fast forward to 2020, I moved in with them to help them out with the house.  Well, I was walking past it a few days ago and something caught my eye…a spathe!  A very DARK spathe!  I sped up just a little and swatted petioles aside to check closely.  Sure enough, it was WOOLY!  Not only that, there were 2 of them.  Well, that pretty much eliminates all the other species that I thought it could have been.  So after searching high and low over the past couple of years for a decent-sized Butia eriospatha, and only finding small ones and seeds, I have a mature one in my front yard!  Can’t wait to start crossing it next year.  I’m glad it decided to push out its first inflorescences in October, so I wouldn’t be tempted to pollinate them, haha!

[Harry’s Palms]

A very nice Butia . The trunk looks smaller than an Oderata would be at that age. With the very full crown , it looks elegant. Harry

[Las Palmas Norte]

A healthy Butia. The fronds have good coloration.

[Fusca]

That's a nice surprise!  Am I remembering correctly that eriospatha is more cold hardy than the typical odorata?

[Chester B]

2 hours ago, Fusca said:

That's a nice surprise!  Am I remembering correctly that eriospatha is more cold hardy than the typical odorata?

That didn't seem that to be the case in Oregon and Washington, although UK palm growers find it hardier for them.

[Bigfish]

3 hours ago, Fusca said:

That's a nice surprise!  Am I remembering correctly that eriospatha is more cold hardy than the typical odorata?

That's what they say, but this one has experienced nothing that would remotely test it, LOL.  

[Fusca]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

That didn't seem that to be the case in Oregon and Washington, although UK palm growers find it hardier for them.

I guess I did remember well.

40 minutes ago, Bigfish said:

That's what they say, but this one has experienced nothing that would remotely test it, LOL.  

Maybe using it for mule production will add some hardiness - at least in some areas. 

[Bigfish]

4 hours ago, Fusca said:

I guess I did remember well.

Maybe using it for mule production will add some hardiness - at least in some areas. 

Yes, the B. eriospatha x Syagrus romanzoffiana 'Santa Catarina' cross is a popular one.  I can't exactly duplicate that, but I might be able to get pollen from a hardy Uruguay Queen or var. littoralis.  I'm definitely going to try to source Jubaea pollen for B. erio x Jubaea!

[Las Palmas Norte]

19 hours ago, Chester B said:

That didn't seem that to be the case in Oregon and Washington, although UK palm growers find it hardier for them.

To no surprize,  that's consistent with my experience in the palm growing regions of British Columbia as well.