Southeastern Palmspalms

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Volume 21-3 1

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Southeastern Palms is the journal of the Southeastern Palm Society (SPS). The society, founded in 1992, is the southeastern United States (north-of-Florida) chapter of the renowned International Palm Society. Members are devoted to growing hardy palms and other subtropical plants. The Southeastern Palm Society also provides to members a quarterly newsletter.

Editor and Tom McClendon, St. Marys, Georgia article submissions [email protected]

Design, layout, Jeff Stevens, Apison, Tennessee production, mailing [email protected]

Address changes, membership and Phil Bennion, Marietta, Georgia payment questions [email protected]

Online membership renewal, bookstore www.sepalms.org

Rhapidophyllum and Southeastern Palms editors emeritus: ● Will Roberds: 1992–1997 ● Alan Bills: 1997–2000 ● Jeff Stevens: 2001–2008

Contents Volume 21-3 July 2014

4 Sabal minor Distribution at the Northern Edge of Its Range

Tom McClendon and Hayes Jackson

Where to search for native dwarf palmettos on the northern edge of its range in the Piedmont.

14 Let’s Get Reacquainted with Butia Palms

Jeff Stevens

Understanding the reorganization of Butia palms and looking for more species worth growing in the southeastern United States.

Front and back covers: Butia yatay growing in El Palmar National Park, located on the bank of the Uruguay River in Entre Rios, Argentina. The 21,000-acre park was established in 1966 to protect the largest remaining concentration of yatay jelly palms. See article by on page 14. Photo @2014 iStockphoto.

Sabal minor Distribution at the Northern Edge of Its Range

Tom McClendon, St. Marys, Georgia Hayes Jackson, Anniston, Alabama

Sabal minor, the dwarf palmetto, is the most widely distributed native palm in North America, so for many palm enthusiasts, it would seem to be the most likely for Southerners to encounter in habitat. Ranging from North Carolina west to Oklahoma and south to northeastern Mexico, Sabal minor in the Southeast is most commonly an inhabitant of hardwood bottomland areas on the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plains. These areas quite commonly are flooded in the winter and deeply shaded in summer, so many people never see Sabal minor. Ironically, while most people are familiar with Sabal palmetto and recognize Serenoa repens for its ubiquity on the coast, most people who live near native populations of Sabal minor in the upper Coastal Plain and Piedmont are unaware of the presence of this palm. Along major rivers, creeks, and streams on the Coastal Plain, Sabal minor can be quite common, and large populations exist along nearly every watershed within the range of this species.

Figure 1. Sabal minor growing in a typical setting just above winter high water on Cane Creek in Calhoun County, Alabama. All photos accompanying this article were taken above the Fall Line. Photo: Hayes Jackson.

Figure 2. Turkey Creek, a tributary of the Little Ogeechee River in Hancock County, Georgia, is home to Sabal minor. A typical Piedmont bluff is in the background. Photo: Tom McClendon.

Above the Fall Line on the Piedmont Plateau, however, populations decrease rapidly, and it is rare to encounter Sabal minor anywhere more than 30 miles north or west of the Fall Line in Georgia or Alabama. We sought to learn more about why the sudden drop-off in populations of Sabal minor north of the Fall Line is the case, especially knowing that Sabal minor is among the hardiest of all palms, and reproduces and naturalizes in cultivation far north of its natural range. While there is a positive correlation between higher average temperatures and the presence of Sabal minor (Butler et al, 2011), average temperatures do not drop off rapidly from the upper Coastal Plain to the lower Piedmont, and the entire area is included in USDA Zone 8 on most recent hardiness zone maps. In addition, in Alabama, Sabal minor does occur as far north as the upper Coosa River Valley within a few miles of the Georgia state

Figure 3. More Sabal minor in an overflow area in Hancock County, Georgia, well above the Fall Line. This population extends for a half-mile or more. Photo: Tom McClendon. line and within 20 miles of Rome, Georgia, an area typically listed as Zone 7. Discounting temperatures (within certain limits), there must be other factors at work. The two major factors that differentiate the Piedmont and Coastal Plain areas are elevation and soil types. In Georgia at the Fall Line, elevations on the Piedmont (literally, “foot of the mountains”) typically average between 300 and 500 feet, increasing gradually to about 1,500 to 2,000 feet at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. Although average elevations are lower in Alabama, the ranges of elevations there in a small area can be quite dramatic, with areas of Calhoun County along the Coosa River averaging 600 feet above sea level and rising to more than 2,000 feet in the mountains just to the east. In our sampling, Sabal minor does not seem to be present in Georgia in areas that are more than 500 feet in elevation, and in Alabama, about 600 feet.

Differences in soil types between geographic regions are much more pronounced. Coastal Plain soils can range from sharply drained sands to silty clays, but the entire region is characterized by the fact that at one time it was submerged by the sea and its soil base, consequently, is sedimentary in origin. While much of the Coastal Plain region in Alabama and Georgia has acidic soils, the subsoil often has a limestone base. In the Piedmont, soil types change abruptly to a crystalline base. Lower Piedmont soils tend to be granitic in origin, while upper Piedmont and Appalachian soils can be either granitic or basaltic. In either case, the predominant soil type is red clay, though there are many soil types present in the Piedmont that range from red clay to sandy loam. An exception to this is the Ridge and Valley province of central Alabama and northwest Georgia. Although typed with other highland regions, like the Coastal Plain region it too was once submerged. Ridges tend to have crystalline and limestone rocks, and the valleys are broad and relatively flat, giving the river valleys a look and feel much like the Coastal Plain. Map 1 (pages 12-13) shows the physiographic regions of Alabama and Georgia and a best-guess range of Sabal minor from the authors. It is likely that the range indicated extends farther north and west than that indicated. The red line on the map indicates the area below which Sabal minor has been located (shown as pink dots). Major river systems that should be investigated further are highlighted in yellow north of the red line. Where it is native above the Fall Line, Sabal minor occurs in very specific habitats. In Alabama and Georgia, Sabal minor most often will be found in dense hardwood bottomland forests along major river drainages. Many of these areas experience periodic flooding, especially in winter, and it is not unusual on the Coastal Plain to see hundreds of Sabal minor with just the tops of their leaves sticking up through running water. However, only rarely does Sabal minor occur in swampy areas with stagnant water.

Figure 4. Sabal minor growing with Podophyllum peltatum (May apple) along Beaver Creek in St. Clair County, Alabama. Photo: Hayes Jackson.

In the Piedmont, Sabal minor is less likely to be found directly on major rivers, and more likely to be found on smaller streams that feed major drainages. This is because above the Fall Line, large rivers have narrower floodplains and often are rocky or swift with high, steep banks on both sides. Smaller feeder streams, on the other hand, often will have long stretches that more or less resemble a Coastal Plain environment. A summary of suitable habitat is as follows: ● Hardwood bottoms ● Running water (not stagnant) ● Wide, flat valleys ● Silty-clay soils.

Figure 5. This smooth, silty, brown clay is the preferred characteristic soil for Sabal minor in the Piedmont. Photo: Tom McClendon.

North of the Fall Line, the key to finding Sabal minor is to locate areas that have these qualities. Most streams and rivers in the Piedmont are lined with hardwood trees, so this criterion is usually a given. Running water also is a given, but it is the type of running water available that can differentiate a typical Piedmont stream valley from one that will support a native population of Sabal minor. In the Piedmont, water levels on streams can fluctuate wildly from season to season and even from day to day. The narrower drainage systems of the Piedmont are much more prone to local flooding and often have very sandy “runs.” These areas are not favored by Sabal minor. Where it is found, Sabal minor clearly prefers the flat overflow areas that only rarely flood but remain damp most of the year (Table 1). These habitats become increasingly rare in the Piedmont as the elevation increases, but they are present and when they are, Sabal minor can often be found (Figures 1-4). Most importantly, soil type is very different from the typical red clay of the uplands and flatwoods or the sandy runs of streams. If overflow areas have a dark brown, smooth, silty clay soil (Figure 5), this is strong evidence that the area is a good habitat for Sabal minor. Butler et al. (2011) listed this soil type as preferred by Sabal minor in Oklahoma and is a good indicator for its presence. The researchers pointed that this soil type has good water-

Table 1. Common Piedmont indicator plants for Sabal minor. If you see these, you’re looking in the right places!

Trees River birch Betula nigra American Beech Fagus grandifolia American holly Ilex opaca Southern Magnolia Magnolia grandiflora Sweet Bay Magnolia Magnolia virginiana Water tupelo Nyssa aquatica

Understory Plants Tall cane Arundinaria gigantea Small cane Arundinaria tecta Coastal leucothoe Leucothoe axillaris

retention capacity but also drains well, unlike sandy soils which have much higher porosity and heavy red clay which has good water retention capability but suffers from poor drainage. Finding Sabal minor in the Piedmont Plateau and Ridge and Valley can be challenging, but this native palm is present and often more common than people realize.

References Butler, C., Curtis, J., McBride, K., Arbour, D., & Heck, B. (2011). Modeling the distribution of the dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor; Arecaceae) in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. The Southwestern Naturalist, 56(1), 66-70.

Map 1 is based on material from www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ ecoregions/alga_eco.htm. A key to the physiographic regions is available there.

Map 1. The physiographic regions of Alabama and Georgia. The red line indicates the area below which Sabal minor has been located (including pink dots). Yellow shading indicates river valleys worthy of search.

Let ’s Get Reacquainted with Butia Palms

Jeff Stevens Apison, Tennessee

Southerners could be forgiven for believing that Butia palms, especially the jelly or pindo palm, are native to the warmer parts of the southeastern United States. Along with pineapple guavas, citrus, windmill palms, loquats, gardenias, nandina and camellias, these palms have been present in our garden culture for so long that we could easily forget that they’re not from around here. Butia palms are native to South America in a range that runs from the far interior of northeastern Brazil to Uruguay in the south and Argentina and Paraguay to the west (Map 1). They occur in habitats from beaches and savannahs to open forests, and are most closely related to the genus Syagrus. Though Butia has few species, within the genus there is great variation in size, form, inflorescence and fruit. Taxonomists recently gave Butia palms a remarkable makeover, offering us a wonderful opportunity to get reacquainted with these lovely and hardy palms. Of practical interest to palm enthusiasts in the Southeast, many Butia species come from the relatively colder parts of the range of palms in South America and offer excellent hardiness. Consider any species listed as approximately USDA Zone 10a or even 10b in its native range as

Figure 1. Butia odorata, seen here in Rocha Department, Uruguay, was once grouped with Butia capitata. Photo: Jeff Stevens.

B R A Z I L Bahia Distrito Federal (Brasilia)  Goiás Minas Gerais Mato Grosso do Sul São Paulo PARAGUAY Regions Paraná North Santa Catarina Northeast ARGENTINA Center West Rio Grande do Sul Southeast South URUGUAY

Map 1. The native range of Butia palms includes the labeled Brazilian states, Uruguay, and adjacent areas of Argentina and Paraguay. Map ©Felipe Menegaz. Labels: Jeff Stevens. Map reproduced under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

fair game for our Southeastern climate’s trial-by-extremes. And notice how many dwarf Butia palms there are. Wouldn’t these tiny palms be easy for the experimenter to protect from freezes? Another good reason to look at Butia palms with new eyes is the breakup of Butia capitata into itself, Butia odorata and Butia catarinensis. We love to notice subtle differences and solve (or leave unsolved) horticultural mysteries, so no doubt the breakup will inspire plenty of discussion (Figure 2). And notice how often

Figure 2. This non-typical Butia palm, part of Dr. Kyle Brown’s impressive palm collection in Glen St. Mary, Florida, begs the question of its identity. Photo: Jeff Stevens. this question and answer occurs in the next section: “Examples in the Southeast (north of Florida): Unknown.” Anyone up for a challenge?

The Butia family tree Following are very brief descriptions of each of the current Butia species, drawing on the detailed descriptions in Brazilian Flora: Arecaceae (Palms) (reference 5 on page 31). Of the current 18 recognized species, 17 are native to Brazil, and the 18th occurs exclusively in Paraguay. In the species descriptions, “USDA Zone” refers to the approximate USDA zone of the palm’s native range, not the

Figure 3. Butia arenicola is at home in the sandy soil at the Georgia Coastal Botanical Gardens in Savannah. Photo: Jeff Stevens. palm’s potential hardiness in the Southeast. Where common names are suggested, they originate with current use, the descriptions at www.rarepalmseeds.com and the origin of the scientific name. Remember that in the southern hemisphere, southern and northern descriptors of climate are reversed, so “southern” indicates greater actual or potential hardiness.

Butia archeri Description: Compact with a trunk to 4.5 feet in height Range and USDA zone: Brazil (Distrito Federal, eastern Goiás, western Minas Gerais, northern São Paulo); 10b-11 Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Butia arenicola (sand jelly palm) Figure 3 Description: Trunk to 15 feet; similar to Butia paraguayensis, and considered by some just a subspecies of it

Range and USDA zone: Paraguay; 10b; the only Butia species that doesn’t occur in Brazil Examples in the Southeast: Savannah, Georgia

Butia campicola Description: Grass-like to 2.5 feet in height Range and USDA zone: Brazil (southwestern Mato Grosso do Sul) and adjacent Paraguay; z10b Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Butia capitata (northern jelly palm) Description: Tree with a trunk to 15 feet in height Range and USDA zone: Brazil (western Bahia, eastern Goiás, northern Minas Gerais); z11 Examples in the Southeast: Unlikely to unknown because the palms we’ve called Butia capitata are nearly always the hardier Butia odorata. Also the native range of Butia odorata is coastal, providing easy access to seeds, while Butia capitata occurs far into the more tropical interior of Brazil.

Butia catarinensis (coastal jelly palm) Description: Compact with a 1- to 5-foot trunk Range and USDA zone: Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina within 100 feet of elevation of South Atlantic beaches); z9b to 10a Examples in the Southeast: Butia ‘bonnetii’ in Anniston, Alabama, and Augusta, Georgia. Perhaps a few of the most compact and mysterious specimens of Butia capitata palms are actually Butia catarinensis.

Butia eriospatha (woolly jelly palm) Figure 4 Size: Tree with a trunk 13 to 16 feet in height, has a distinguishing brown wooly spathe Range and USDA zone: Brazil (mostly in the highlands of Rio

Figure 4. The distinctive spathe of Butia eriospatha at Aquinas High School, Augusta, Georgia. Eriospatha means wooly spathe, a feature that distinguishes the species. Photo: Jeff Stevens.

Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná), where they share habitat with Araucaria angustifolia, the Paraná pine; z9b-10a Examples in the Southeast: Augusta and Savannah, Georgia, and no doubt a few other examples; far less common than Butia odorata

Butia exospadix Description: Overall height 1 foot Range and USDA zone: Brazil (southern Mato Grosso do Sul)

Figure 5. Butia lallemantii, pictured here in Rivera Department in northwestern Uruguay, is one of the dwarf species with hardiness potential. Photo ©Andrés González. Reproduced under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0.

and adjacent Paraguay; z10b Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Butia lallemantii Figure 5 Size: An attractive mound of fronds to 3 feet Range and USDA zone: Brazil (southwestern Rio Grande do Sul), northern Uruguay; z10a Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Butia lepidotispatha Description: Dwarf palm with a trunk to 1 foot in height Range and USDA zone: Brasil (southwestern Mato Grosso do Sul) and adjacent Paraguay; z10b Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Figure 6. The perimeter of this circular stone cattle corral is planted with Butia odorata, with countless others growing on the plain below. The corral, in Rocha Department, Uruguay, is easy to spot in satellite images. The clouds, chill and wind are typical of April fall weather in this part of South America. Photo: Jeff Stevens.

Butia leptospatha Description: Overall height to 1.5 feet Range and USDA zone: Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul) and adjacent Paraguay; z10b; rare and once thought extinct Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Butia marmorii Description: Overall height to 1.3 feet; purple fruit Range and USDA zone: Brazil (southern Mato Grosso do Sul and western São Paulo), adjacent Paraguay; z10b Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Figure 7. The Butia odorata here are said to have sprouted as long ago as early colonial times and stretch as far as the eye can see. One obvious feature is the absence of seedlings due to grazing. This is the best-known and most widely-distributed Butia palm outside its native range. Photo: Jeff Stevens.

Butia matogrossensis (Mato Grosso jelly palm) Description: Overall height to 4 feet; purple flowers and fruit Range and USDA zone: Brazil (eastern Mato Grosso do Sul and extreme western Minas Gerais); z10b Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Butia microspadix (dwarf woolly jelly palm) Size: Overall height to 1.5 feet Range and USDA zone: Brazil (northern Rio Grande do Sul, the highlands of Paraná, and probably Santa Catarina and São Paulo); z9b to 10a Examples in the Southeast: Unknown

Figure 8 (above). This four-headed Butia odorata in Rocha Department, Uruguay, has recovered from an injury caused by who-knows-what disaster. The tree is posing in 2010 with International Palm Society members from Austria, Australia, France, Scotland in the United Kingdom, and California, Florida and Tennessee in the United States. Photo: Don Martin.

Figure 9 (opposite). The fruit of Butia odorata can be eaten fresh, as jelly or distilled into a liqueur reminiscent of apricot brandy. Fruit provided by Jeremy Breland. Jelly: David Cox. Photo: Jeff Stevens.

Butia odorata (southern jelly palm) Figures 1, 6, 7, 8, 9 Description: Tree 10 to 30 feet Range and USDA zone: Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina) and coastal Uruguay; z10a Examples in the Southeast: By far the most common Butia palm, with long-term survivors as far inland as z8a Butia odorata is the prized jelly or pindo palm that is widely planted across the Southeast. It has been decisively separated from the northern Butia capitata, and has a more rounded fruit and endocarp (Figure 9) than Butia capitata or Butia catarinensis. Larry R. Noblick suggests in Brazilian Flora: Arecaceae (Palms) that based on the hardiness of the form with the most rounded seed, that hardy cultivated forms originated from seed collected in Rio Grande do Sul or Uruguay. Butia odorata is prized for

Figure 10. The fruit of Butia paraguayensis is notably smaller than that of Butia odorata. Photo: Joe LeVert.

its form, foliage, blossoms and fruit. The ripe fruit begins as a crisp-tart blend of everything tropical and then matures to cloyingly sweet with a softer texture. It’s made into a tasty jelly, and along the coast of southern Brazil and Uruguay is distilled into a liqueur reminiscent of apricot brandy.

Butia paraguayensis (Paraguayan jelly palm) Figures 10 and 11 Description: Tree 5 to 30 feet Range and USDA zone: Brazil (southern Mato Grosso do Sul, western Minas Gerais, western Paraná, northern Rio Grande do Sul, northwestern São Paulo), and adjacent Argentina and Paraguay; z10a Examples in the Southeast: Augusta and Savannah, Georgia

Figure 11. Butia paraguayensis in the Garden of Joe LeVert, Augusta, Georgia. The fronds have been subject to occasional cold damage. Photo: Joe LeVert.

Butia pubispatha Description: Grass-like to 3 feet in height; very attractive Range and USDA zone: Brazil, where it is known only from a small high-altitude area of Paraná; z9b-10a Examples in the Southeast: None known

Butia purpurascens (purple jelly palm) Description: Tree 5 to 18 feet Range and USDA zone; Brazil (southwestern Goiás, and extreme western Minas Gerais); z11 Examples in the Southeast: Augusta, Georgia

Figure 12. Butia palms aren’t described as “statuesque” but these Butia yatay in El Palmar National Park in Argentina certainly are. Evidently they become more slender as they grow older. Photo: “El Palmar Plains” by Joshua Stone - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Butia yatay (yatay jelly palm) Cover and Figures 12 and 13 Description: Tree 15 to 35 feet Range and USDA zone: Brazil (western Rio Grande do Sul) and adjacent Argentina and Uruguay; z10a Examples in the Southeast: Augusta and Savannah, Georgia.

And that brings to an end our tantalizing and too brief tour of the old and new Butia palms. Table 1 (pages 30-31) is a strictly unofficial attempt to trace the twists and turns of species identity over recent decades. ■

Figure 13. The Georgia Coastal Botanical Garden in Savannah is home to a mature Butia yatay, one of the hardiest species. Photo: Jeff Stevens.

Field Guide to Palms Brazilian Flora: World Checklist the Palms of the Throughout Butiá4 Arecaceae of Palms3 Americas1 the World2 (Palms)5 1995: 8 species 1995: 9 species 2005: 9 species 2009: 13 species 2010: 18 species

archeri archeri archeri archeri archeri

campicola campicola campicola campicola

bonnetii capitata

capitata capitata capitata catarinensis

capitata odorata

eriospatha eriospatha eriospatha eriospatha eriospatha

microspadix microspadix microspadix microspadix microspadix

arenicola arenicola paraguayensis paraguayensis paraguayensis paraguayensis paraguayensis

purpurascens purpurascens purpurascens purpurascens purpurascens

yatay yatay yatay yatay yatay

exospadix exospadix

lallemantii lallemantii

lepidotispatha

leptospatha leptospatha

marmorii marmorii

matogrossensis

pubispatha

stolonifera stolonifera

Field Guide to Palms Brazilian Flora: Table 1. An unofficial attempt to follow Butia World Checklist the Palms of the Throughout Butiá4 Arecaceae identity through the years. of Palms3 Americas1 the World2 (Palms)5 This table was compiled using species and 1995: 8 species 1995: 9 species 2005: 9 species 2009: 13 species 2010: 18 species their synonyms from recent references: archeri archeri archeri archeri archeri 1 Henderson, Andrew, Gloria Galeano and Rodrigo Bernal. 1995. A Field Guide to the campicola campicola campicola campicola Palms of the Americas. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. bonnetii capitata 2 Jones, David L. 1995. Palms Throughout capitata capitata capitata catarinensis the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. capitata odorata 3 Govaerts, Rafaël and John Dransfield. eriospatha eriospatha eriospatha eriospatha eriospatha 2005. World Checklist of Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. microspadix microspadix microspadix microspadix microspadix 4 Beymonat, Giancarlo, and Néstor Rocha. 2009. Butiá. Casa Ambiental, Castillos, arenicola arenicola Uruguay. paraguayensis paraguayensis paraguayensis 5 Lorenzi, Harri, Larry R. Noblick, Francis Kahn and Evandro Ferreira. 2010. Brazilian purpurascens purpurascens purpurascens purpurascens purpurascens Flora: Arecaceae (Palms) / Flora Brasileira: Arecaceae (Palmeiras). Instituto Plantarum yatay yatay yatay yatay yatay de Estudos da Flora, Ltda., Nova Odessa, exospadix exospadix Brasil.