Cabbage Palmetto
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| Missing image Sabal_palmetto1.jpg Cabbage Palmetto forest in western Florida | ||||||||||||||
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The Cabbage Palmetto or Sabal Palm (Sabal palmetto) is one of about 14 species of palmetto palm (Arecaceae, genus Sabal). It is native to the southeastern United States, ranging throughout Florida and into coastal Georgia and South Carolina, north to southernmost North Carolina. A disjunct population also reportedly exists on Cape Hatteras, and species have been known to grow in in eastern Virginia, Maryland, and Dallas, Texas. It is extremely salt-tolerant and is often seen growing near the Atlantic Ocean coast, and also frost-tolerant, surviving temperatures as low as -14ºC.
The Cabbage Palmetto grows up to 20 m in height, exceptionally to 30 m, with a trunk up to 60 cm diameter. It is a fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets. Each leaf is 1.5-2 m long, with 40-60 leaflets up to 80 cm long. The flowers are yelllowish-white, 5 mm across, produced in large compound panicles up to 2.5 m long, extending out beyond the leaves. The fruit is a black drupe about 1 cm long containing a single seed.
Cultivation and uses
Sabal_palmetto2.jpg
Cabbage Palmetto is popular in cultivation for its tolerance of salt spray and cold. It is the state tree of South Carolina and Florida.
The growing heart of the new fronds, also known as the terminal bud, gives the tree its "cabbage" name, since this is extracted as a food and superficially resembles a cabbage head in shape. This was commonly eaten by Native Americans. However, this practice is very destructive, as it will eventually kill the palm, because the terminal bud is the only point from which the palm can grow and without this bud, the palm will not be able to replace old leaves and will eventually die.