Jelly palm
Butia capitata
Also called Butia, Pindo palm and Wine palm
Garden plant · Ferns & palmsThe bluest hardy palm there is, and the fronds ARCH RIGHT OVER into a dome — give it three metres each way or it will be pruned into something ugly. In Britain it fruits only in a hot year, and the jelly the name promises is rare.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Medium
- Water
- Every 11 daysDrench and drain — water the whole surface until it runs from the holes.
- Light
- Full sun
- Feed
- Every 45 days
- Humidity
- Low
- Hardiness
- Hardy — an average winter RHS H4, to -10°C
- Size
- 4 m tall · 3 m across
- Lifecycle
- Tree
- Origin
- Brazil and Uruguay
Is it safe for pets and people?
No animal-poison authority lists this plant either way.
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
Neither authority names Butia. That is an absence and not a clean bill.
Checked against ASPCA and RHS on 2026-09-22. Where a source says nothing, we say nothing.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- Every lower frond cut off to get past it, leaving a tuft on a stick. The arching dome IS the plant — it needs three metres each way, and a palm does not regrow a frond once it is taken.Pruned into a shuttlecock · disorder
- The central spear browns and lifts out after a cold wet spell. Fleece the crown rather than the trunk in a hard winter, and keep water out of the middle.Crown rot · disease