Difference between revisions of "Butia yatay"

Palm 8-12 m tall, about 40 cm in diam., old petiole bases persistent on trunk when young, eventually dehiscing completely; sheathing base 58-60 em long, petiole 50-70 cm long, margins armed with coarse spiny teeth about 3 cm long on lower part, teeth becoming gradually smaller on upper part; rachis of leaf 170-200 em long, pinnae 68-72 in each side, regularly arranged, middle ones 75-81 cm long, 2.0-2.4 cm wide, mostly with acute, asymmetrical tips; expanded part of spathe 115-125 cm long, 10-12 cm wide, smooth or striate, more or less glaucous outside; branched part of spadix 78-82 cm long, rachillae numerous (100 or more), each 30-32 cm long; pistillate flowers ovoid, 10-16 mm long, 6-10 mm in diam.; lower staminate flowers 8-13 mm long, those above 5-8 mm long; mature fruit ovoid 3.0-4.2 cm long, 2.5-2.8 cm in diam., with prominent, conical beak, persistent perianth 1.8-2.2 cm high, locules 1-3, seeds 2.5-3.0 cm long, 1.2-1.4 cm in diam. (S.F. Glassman. 1979)/Palmweb.

Description: Solitary, monoecious, pinnate leaves. The trunk is covered by old leaf bases, which are elongated and arranged in an orderly manner around the entire perimeter. Leaves with (57 -) 63-78 pinnae on each side of the rachis, pinnae of the middle part of the rachis with (58 -) 65-77 x 2.0-2.4 cm. Inflorescence: pleonantic, interfoliar, flexuose, 1- 1.3 m long, protected by two woody, ridged spathes. Yellow flowers in groups of 3, with 3 sepals, 3 petals and 6 stamens in male flowers. It blooms in spring and fructifies in summer. Ripe fruit with 3.0 to 4.1 x 1.5 to 2.8 cm, weighing between 8.91 - 15.39 grams; cored fruit with new 1.8-3.0 x 1.0-1.4 inches and weighing between 1.42 to 2.96 grams (pyrene) without longitudinal edges and cone shaped on the side where the pores are, ............. yatay. (K. Soares & S. Longhi) (From the portuguese)

Native to Southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, this palm is thought to be the most graceful of the genus, reaching over 10m in height in the wild, and forming huge stands of trees, numbering millions. With good hardiness to cold, many palms have been imported to Northern Europe in recent years. (butia.nl)

Leaves: 1.5- 2.5 m long, with approximately 140 leaflets. Petioles are relatively slender, with bumps on the margins, turning into curved, sharp, about 2 cm long gray spines in the highest part of the petiole, transforming to fibers at the broad leaf bases . Such fibers form a sort of brown and rough burlap between the leaf bases. The petiole is adaxially flat at the base and becomes keel-like up the rachis. (Jose A. Grassia)

Fruit: ovate, pointed, 5 x 2.5 cm, yellow-orange when ripe, with a thick mesocarp and protected at the base by bracts and a sort of spike on the end. Fruits are edible and often used in jelly and liqueur. One thin, elongated seed per fruit, which may sprout in 90-180 days. It is common to find seeds with more than one embryo. (Jose A. Grassia)

Distribution: It occurs naturally in both coasts of the Uruguay River in Argentina and the Republic of Uruguay. The highest concentrations of these palms occur between 30º and 33° S, especially in northeastern Argentina, at “Palmar de Colón” in the province of Entre Rios and the “Palmares de Quebracho, Chapicuy, Porrua and Mujica in the Republic of Uruguay. Note that in Spanish, a forest made up mostly of palm trees is called “palmar”. (Jose A. Grassia)

“Palmar de Colón” is considered the largest concentration of natural monospecific palms of the Americas, covering a strip of land that borders the Uruguay River with a width of approximately 10-25 km and a length of 100 km, totalling an area of about 100,000 hectares, which means about 30 million specimens of B. yatay. (Jose A. Grassia)

At present, farming, repeated burning of grasslands, invasion by exotic flora, the action of herbivores and trampling by livestock, have drastically reduced the number of palms. Only 8500 hectares are protected within a National Park, with an approximately 250 years old population of nearly 2 million specimens of Butia yatay. (Jose A. Grassia)

The effects of radiation and seed dispersal have extended the original boundaries of this natural habitat of B. yatay, so that, nowadays, specimens of this species can be found throughout the provinces of Entre Ríos, Corrientes, east of Santa Fe along the Parana River and south of Misiones, all these territories in Argentina. (Jose A. Grassia)

Meanwhile, in the Republic of Uruguay, Butia yatay has a natural habitat on the east coast of the Uruguay River in the County of Salto and Paysandú, although the population density is much lower than on the western bank of that river.Butia yatay can also be found in the south of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, but in isolated populations and a low number of specimens. (Jose A. Grassia)