The conservancy that I’m developing in West Delray Beach, FL, has one of the largest and best-curated palm tree collections in the world, as well as a growing collection of outdoor sculptures, a traditionally styled Japanese tea house, a stock of African cycads, and dozens of other exotic plants and trees.

This is one of the palms you can see and learn about if you visit:

Yatay Palm

Also known as Jelly Palm

Binomial name: Butia yatay

The Yatay Palm is one of my favorite palms in the gardens. It’s big. It’s imposing. And it has a distinctive appearance.

The species, formally Butia yatay, is native to southern Brazil and northern Argentina. It is one of the few plants where the scientific name is completely derived from Native American languages. Butia – referring to the spines of this species – is from a local Brazilian vernacular word meaning “thorny thing.” Yatay is adopted from a Guarani word that refers to the small hard fruit.

For more information about Paradise Palms, click here.