Butia capitata and Butia eriospatha

[Cathy Donald]

Recently I have encountered two kinds of Butia, but I'm so confused.

The Butia fruits from my school are yellow and the seeds are round. the flowers are mostly red. I've attached the photos (1-6) below.

Last weekend I found a different kind of Butia. The ripe fruit are mostly yellow with a little red. And the seeds are smaller then the seeds I found at my school. The shape is also different. Please see the last photo.

I think they are Butia capitata and Butia eriospatha, but I don't know who is who.

Could anyone teach me how to distinguish a Butia capitata from a Butia eriospatha?

Thanks!!

Edited July 31, 2012 by Cathy Donald

[Cathy Donald]

Sorry, for some reasons, the orders of the photos are not what I expected. Photos of the Butia I found at my school are 1-5 and 7.

No 6 (pinkish kind of fruits and pointed seeds )are the photos for a different Butia.

Edited July 31, 2012 by Cathy Donald

[Alberto]

The easist way to differenciate the two species is by looking at the spathe. B.eriospatha has a thick layer of a wooly brown tomentum on the spathes and B. odorata (and B,capitata ) doesn´t have this brown tomentum.

[Alberto]

See in this TOPIC the pic of a B.eriospatha ´s spathe (Post # 4) that shows the letter A "engraved" in the tomentum.

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=22947&hl=dick

[Cathy Donald]

I see. I will try to take photos of the other one and compare them again. Thank you very much for the reply.