Butia eriospatha

In 1970 Sidney Fredrick Glassman moved this species, along with all other Butia, to Syagrus, but in 1979 he changed his mind and moved everything back. ==Description==

Butia eriospatha is a solitary-trunked palm tree. The trunk is sometimes inclined to a side, and may occasionally be subterranean. The 20-22 pinnate leaves arch back down towards the trunk and have a petiole armed with teeth spaced along their margins; the rachis of the leaf is 150–220 cm in length. The branched inflorescence develops in a woody, 115–135 cm long spathe covered in a dense woolly indumentum. The pistillate (female) flowers are 5–9mm in length. The shape of the fruit is globose (round), as is the shape of the nuts. Like all species of Butia studied, this species has relatively larger pollen grains than that of other genera of palm present in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. These grains are bilaterally symmetrical, prolate-spheroid, monosulcate, and with the end piriform (pear-shaped). The surface is covered in minute 2μm-large reticulate patterns. ==Distribution==

It is native to southern Brazil, where the main bulk of its population is found straddling the highlands in the eastern Santa Catarina/Rio Grande do Sul border regions, surrounded by scattered sub-populations in the southeastern coastal part of the high plateau of the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina. Bauermann et al. investigated the possibility of using palm pollen, including this species, in palynology, in order to try to provide more detail about the ancient changes in habitat in the state Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil by tracking the changes in distribution and abundance of the palms, but were unable to provide much detail on the subject. ==Habitat and ecology==

'' in the Tainhas State Park. It is found growing in the Atlantic rainforest biome on a plateau at higher altitudes, between 700 and 1,200m, where it is largely found in grasslands, aggregated in often extensive, dense, almost monoculture palm groves, but higher up also sometimes in open Araucaria forest. The caterpillars of the Indonesian butterfly Cephrenes augiades ssp. augiades may also feed on the leaves this palm. ==Uses==

Butia eriospatha is reasonably available in Europe as an ornamental. It is often used in mild temperate climates as a hardy palm for its exotic look. Products obtained from the palm are used locally and are not widely marketed. A wine is made from the palm, as are juices and jellies/jams. ==Conservation==

The species is widely cultivated, but according to Noblick in 1998, wild populations are declining. In 2012 the Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora rated the conservation status for Brazil as 'vulnerable'. ==Gallery==

File:Butia eriospatha.jpg|Note the teeth along the margins of the leaf petiole on this plant for sale in the USA. File:Butia eriospatha kz1.JPG|Young Butia eriospatha palm cultivated in the Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo, flowering at the end of March. File:Butia eriospatha kz2.JPG|Flowers of B. eriospatha at the end of March at the Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo. File:Butiá.jpg|Ripe fruit in December (summer) in Brazil. Butia eriospatha - Jardim Botânico da Universidade de Coimbra - Coimbra, Portugal - DSC08890.jpg|Fruit on ground after ripening, Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra. File:Contributions du Jardin botanique de Rio de Janeiro (1901) (20692838501).jpg|Comparison of fruit by João Barbosa Rodrigues in 1901. B. eriospatha is 'D' (note the smaller, very round fruit); B. yatay is 'A', B. odorata is 'B' & 'C', and Syagrus coronata is 'E'. ==References==