Wine Palm (Butia capitata)

The hardiest feather palm in the world!

Beautiful, hardy feather palm from Brazil. Leaves are light green to bluish gray, and the palms are highly variable, every palm is different. It is a very manageable palm, growing slowly to 4-6m tall. They are also suitable as a very graceful indoor plant, in a bright spot. The Jelly Palm is not only very beautiful, it is useful too. One of the hardiest edible palms in the world; Jelly Palms bear delicious, edible fruits, which are sometimes called Pindo Dates.

Butia capitata palms are very cold hardy, making them suitable for gardens around Australia. These frost hardy palms can handle temperatures down to around -10! It is best grown in full sun to part shade, in a sandy, well draining soil. This palm tends to have longer, more graceful foliage in shady spots, but palms grown in full sun tend to be more compact.

The Jelly Palm is very adaptable and drought tolerant. A very good palm for South East Queensland where water restrictions are imminent and frosts common!

Butia capitata palms can be grown fairly close to the coast as well, but may need some protection from salt spray & winds by means of a fence / hedge or similar. Jelly Palms are fairly slow growing, but growth can be sped up by fertilising regularly, and providing adequate water.

Regular watering will improve the yield, just in case the 25kg or so of fruit isn’t enough to keep you satisfied. Fruits are very versatile, and can be eaten straight of the tree when ripe, or made into jelly or jam, or used in pies and cakes. The fruits tends to be fairly stringy (fibrous flesh), which is why it is usually made into a jelly. This is a shame as it would be a fruit which could rival your apples, pears & bananas! Fruits are orangey yellow, and vary in size from cherry to much bigger. Butia capitata fruit is delicious, very tropical, and is described as very strong, apple, pineapple, vanilla and apricot. All mixed into 1 fruit. Seeds contain almost 50% of edible oil, which is used to create margarine.

Butia capitata is sometimes crossed with the Queen Palm or Cocos Palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) to produce the Mule Palm. The Mule Palm is very beautiful, but unfortunately sterile.

Common names: Butia Palm, Wine Palm, Pindo Palm, Jelly Palm

Size: small plants, 10-30cm

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