Sabal mexicana
Sabal palmetto
Mexican ppalmetto, Rio Grande palmetto, sabal du mexique
cabbage palmetto, cabbage-palm, chou palmiste, palmetto
aerial, 20–35 cm diam.
usually aerial, 20–35 cm diam.
10–30, strongly costapalmate;
hastula acute to acuminate, 9.5–15.5 cm;
segments filiferous, 80–145 × 3.2–5.3 cm;
apices bifid2-cleft.
15–30, strongly costapalmate, bearing threadlike fibers between segments;
hastula acute to acuminate, 5.3–18 cm;
segments 55–120 × 2.5–4.2 cm;
apices bifid2-cleft.
with 3 orders of branching (not counting main inflorescence axis), arching, about ± as long as leaves.
with 3 orders of branching (not counting main inflorescence axis), arching, equaling or exceeding leaves in length.
3.7–6.5 mm.
4.1–6.7 mm.
black, oblate- spheroid, length 13.8–17 mm, diam. diam. 14.8–19.3 mm.
black, spheroid, length 8–13.8 mm, diam. 8.1–13.9 mm.
5.4–7.4 mm, diam. 8.6–13.3 mm diam. 2n = 36.
4–7 mm, diam. 5.4–9.7 mm diam. 2n = 36.
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Sabal mexicana
Sabal palmetto
L. Lockett (1991) suggested that Hhybridization between Sabal mexicana and S. minor is possibly evidenced by a small population of caulescent palms in Brazoria County, Texas (L. Lockett 1991). Further research is needed to test this hypothesis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Sabal palmetto grows in a variety of habitats, from pine and oak associations to coastal dunes and to coastal marshes (K. E. Brown 1976; S. Zona 1990). Like S. minor, it is polymorphic at the extremes of its range; however, differences in stature, size, and trunk characteristics are not of a magnitude to warrant taxonomic rank. In the pine rocklands of Dade County, Florida, S. palmetto may flower and fruit with little or no aboveground trunk.
Although Sabal palmetto is a moderately important honey plant, its greatest economic use is as an ornamental.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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