Species
+

Butia odorata (Barb.Rodr.) Noblick

South American Jelly Palm

Climate known 74 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Butia odorata, also known as the South American jelly palm, jelly palm, or pindo palm, is a Butia palm native to southernmost Brazil and Uruguay. This slow-growing palm grows up to 10m, although it is often less tall. It is identifiable by its feather palm pinnate leaves that arch inwards towards a thick stout trunk.

Text from Wikipedia, “Butia odorata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Butia

Butia is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae, native to the South American countries of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Many species produce edible fruits, which are sometimes used to make alcoholic beverages and other foods. The name is derived from a Brazilian vernacular word for members of the genus.

Text from Wikipedia, “Butia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
(Barb.Rodr.) Noblick
Native to
Brazil South, Uruguay
Wild records
195 in range· 68 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
Jan, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1325mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Feb 134 mm (CHELSA)
Light
14–46DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (August to January and March to April in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1325 mm a year, wettest February at 134 mm, driest December at 83 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 3.0 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Butia capitata var. elegantissima Becc.; Butia capitata var. erythospatha (Chabaud) Becc.; Butia capitata var. erythrospatha (Chabaud) Becc.; Butia capitata var. lilaceiflora (Chabaud) Becc.; Butia capitata var. nehrlingiana (Abbott ex Nehrl.) L.H.Bailey and 15 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (August to January and March to April in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (939 mm of 1325 mm) takes 8 months, February to July and September to October. Mean temperature moves 11.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: August to January and March to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1325 mm a year, wettest February at 134 mm, driest December at 83 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1325 mm a year at the habitat, 939 mm of it February to July and September to October. Wettest month February at 134 mm, driest December at 83 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1172 mm to 1847 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 3.0 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 3.0 °C, the absolute minimum 0.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.7 °C in July (across the envelope cells 7.0 °C to 10.7 °C), warmest day 26.4 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 3.0 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 15 °C in Jul to 26 °C in Jan; mean night from 9 °C in Jul to 19 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1325 mm of rain a year, most in Feb. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 128 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 0.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)0.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 14–46RH 61–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 128 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 25–2926 / 24–2825 / 23–2721 / 20–2418 / 17–2115 / 14–1915 / 13–1816 / 15–2017 / 15–2120 / 18–2322 / 20–2525 / 23–28
Night °C19 / 18–2119 / 18–2118 / 16–2015 / 13–1712 / 10–1410 / 8–119 / 7–1110 / 8–1210 / 9–1313 / 11–1515 / 14–1717 / 16–19
Rain mm93 / 84–169134 / 99–160116 / 93–134116 / 104–153119 / 101–145121 / 87–149117 / 83–153105 / 83–128106 / 86–182110 / 95–173105 / 95–15483 / 73–142
DLI45 / 40–4738 / 36–4032 / 31–3323 / 22–2517 / 17–1914 / 13–1616 / 15–1721 / 20–2327 / 26–2835 / 33–3642 / 39–4346 / 42–48
RH %61 / 58–6462 / 59–6462 / 60–6462 / 61–6463 / 62–6564 / 63–6564 / 63–6563 / 61–6463 / 61–6462 / 60–6461 / 59–6361 / 58–63

Each figure is the median across the 128 grid cells holding the 191 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2483:2524 (-34.175, -53.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 128 distinct grid cells holding the 191 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2483:2524 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.00_-53.750, lapse-corrected -10 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 14 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBrazil South, Uruguay
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-34.212, -53.884 · in the densest population, 115 records (59% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 195 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 68 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 29 km away. 78 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 195 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Butia odorataButia odorataButia odorataButia odorataButia odorataButia odorataButia odorataButia odorata

Photographs: (c) Juan Manuel Barreneche, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); (c) Alex Abair, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Butia odorata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Probiotic butiá (Butia odorata) ice cream: Development, characterization, stability of bioactive compounds, and viability of Bifidobacterium lactis during storage
Cláudio Eduardo dos Santos Cruxen, Jéssica Fernanda Hoffmann, Giovana Paula Zandoná, Ângela Maria Fiorentini (2016) · LWT
Butia spp. (Arecaceae) LC-MS-Based Metabolomics for Species and Geographical Origin Discrimination
Jéssica Fernanda Hoffmann, Ivan Ricardo Carvalho, Rosa Lía Barbieri, César Valmor Rombaldi (2016) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Desenvolvimento inicial de mudas de Butia odorata (Barb. Rodr.) Noblick cultivadas em recipientes
Claudimar Sidnei Fior, Amanda Pezzi, Sérgio Francisco Schwarz (2014) · Revista CERES
Stability of bioactive compounds in butiá (Butia odorata) fruit pulp and nectar
Jéssica Fernanda Hoffmann, Giovana Paula Zandoná, Priscila Silveira dos Santos, Camila Müller Dallmann (2017) · Food Chemistry
Bioactive and yield potential of jelly palms (Butia odorata Barb. Rodr.)
Günter Timm Beskow, Jéssica Fernanda Hoffmann, Andréa Miranda Teixeira, José Carlos Fachinello (2014) · Food Chemistry
Obtaining oil, fermentable sugars, and platform chemicals from Butia odorata seed using supercritical fluid extraction and subcritical water hydrolysis
Roger Gallon, Crisleine P. Draszewski, Jael A.A. Santos, Róger Wagner (2023) · The Journal of Supercritical Fluids
Evaluation of composition and quality parameters of jelly palm (Butia odorata) fruits from different regions of Southern Brazil
Tassiane S. Ferrão, Daniele de Freitas Ferreira, Douglas William Menezes Flores, Gabrieli Bernardi (2013) · Food Research International
Phenolic Compounds from Butia odorata (Barb. Rodr.) Noblick Fruit and Its Antioxidant and Antitumor Activities
Joana Schuelter Boeing, Érica Oliveira Barizão, Eliza Mariane Rotta, Hélito Volpato (2019) · Food Analytical Methods
Pathogenicity of Ganoderma Species on Landscape Trees in the Southeastern United States
Andrew L. Loyd, Eric R. Linder, Nicolas Anger, Brantlee Spakes Richter (2018) · Plant Disease
Tolerance to benzalkonium chloride and antimicrobial activity of Butia odorata Barb. Rodr. extract in Salmonella spp. isolates from food and food environments
Louise Haubert, Maiara Lindemann Zehetmeyr, Ytacyana Maria Nascimento Pereira, Isabela Schneid Kröning (2018) · Food Research International
Jelly Palm (Butia odorata) Wine: Characterization of Volatile Compounds Responsible for Aroma
Gabrieli Bernardi, Raquel Guidetti Vendruscolo, Tassiane dos Santos Ferrão, Juliano Smanioto Barin (2014) · Food Analytical Methods

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Butia 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 23 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.