Originally Published September 17, 2024
Florida is home to many weird and wonderful oddities, like the 4-headed pindo palm we found hiding in our front yard. We call it Vincent. But the odd thing about Vincent is that he didn’t always have 4 heads. Vincent had 3 heads back in 2012…as our news department documented. But all that changed recently, when our station’s camera-shy receptionist brought the change in our pindo palm’s profile to our attention. We agreed to let her conceal her identity. That’s her seated at her desk, in the picture to the right. When you watch the video above, you’ll learn what makes pindo palms grow multiple heads.
We’re number two?
Vincent is not Florida’s first 4-headed pindo palm. Panama City claimed to be home to the “world’s only” 4-headed pindo palm for several years…until its demise in 2018. I hesitate to claim the “world’s only” moniker for our pindo because we have no proof of Vincent’s singularity. If Panama City had one, anywhere could have one, right? A post, with photos, to the International Palm Society online message board Palm Talk brought only a modest response. If Palm Talkers aren’t excitedly pinging a four-headed pindo palm post, maybe four heads aren’t all that special anymore. There was one reply from a Palm Talker who claimed a 4-headed pindo in his Savannah, GA neighborhood, but there was no authenticating photo. I’m keeping an eye peeled on my email inbox.
Please pass the Butia jelly
When botanists, horticulturalists, and phytologists discuss palm trees, they refer to the pindo palm as Butia capitata. Horticulturist David MacManus is the Assistant Director of Grounds and Landscaping for Florida State University and he told me that some folks also call Butia capitata a jelly palm. ”The reason it’s referred to as jelly palm is the fruit is edible. But the fruit is variable too, in size, in color, and in flavor”. Some of them are “quite tasty”, he adds. Adventurous jelly-making readers will find a Butia Palm Fruit Jelly recipe(here) from the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia.
Fan or Feather
There are 3 shapes of palm leaves associated with the many different species of palm trees. The feather-shaped leaf, pinnate, the fan-shaped leaf, palmate, and a leaf that looks similar to a fan shape but slightly elongated, costapalmate. The pindo palm has a feather-shaped leaf…pinnate. The Pindo palm is slow-growing and can be very long-lived. Some may be up to 400 years old according to horticulturalist MacManus.
Anderson, P.J. 2011. Identifying Commonly Cultivated Palms. In A Resource for Pests and Diseases of Cultivated Palms. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service, Division of Plant Industry and Identification Technology Program, S&T, PPQ, APHIS, USDA; Fort Collins, CO. Sept. 17, 2024.
https://idtools.org/palm_id/
Mike Plummer is a content producer and editor for television at WFSU Public Media. He spent 25 years in commercial television as an art director, commercial director, promotion manager, station manager and creative services director before coming to WFSU in 2008. Mike likes to find the “unusual” or “out of the ordinary” stories in our Local Routes. He says the best part of his job is getting to know people he would otherwise probably not get a chance to meet. Mike is widowed, has a rescue dog named Dexter, and is constantly at war with the vines growing in his backyard.
