Jubautia

More Information About Jubautia

The intergeneric hybrid palm tree x Jubautia was first intentionally created in 1973 when palm guru Dick Douglas sowed seeds from a Butia x Jubaea cross made at the Huntington Botanical gardens in California by botanist Fred Boutin. These seedlings became the first official (aka type plant) x Jubautia trees. Around that same time (1968), at the Tetley Nursery in Corona, California, this cross also occurred spontaneously among the Jubaea and Butia growing there. The nursery collected seed of what they thought was Jubaea and sold the offspring. It was not until years later, when the trees had matured in local parks, that palm gurus noticed that they were actually hybrid x Jubautia.

Although the hybrids have been growing for decades, it was only in 2002 that the hybrid genus name x Jubautia was created, based on a plant growing in the Jardin des Cedres in Nice, France.

There are two crosses that will result in x Jubautia. One uses Jubaea as the mother plant and Butia as the pollen donater (Jubaea chilensis x Butia odorata) and the other is to use Butia as the mother plant and Jubaea as the pollen parent (Butia odorata x Jubaea chilensis). The offspring are intermediate between the parents but more strongly resemble the mother. No matter which species is the mother, the resulting hybrid offspring are called x Jubautia. x Jubautia hybrids are intermediate in traits between the parents with blue tinted, pinnate fronds and a wide trunk.

Both parents are somewhat cold hardy, and the hybrid offspring x Jubautia has proven itself to be cold tolerant down to 15 degrees F. As with all palms, x Jubautia gets more cold hardy the older it gets, so you should grow it in a pot or take other protective measures for the first several years of life. When it is mature, x Jubautia produces monstrous 6-8' inflorescences that are covered with small flowers and fruits. When you are ready to buy x Jubautia for your garden, check out our online list of x Jubautia for sale below.