Sabal palmetto |
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cabbage palmetto, cabbage-palm, chou palmiste, palmetto |
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Stems | usually aerial, 20–35 cm diam. |
Leaves | 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. |
Inflorescences | with 3 orders of branching (not counting main inflorescence axis), arching, equaling or exceeding leaves in length. |
Flowers | 4.1–6.7 mm. |
Fruits | black, spheroid, length 8–13.8 mm, diam. 8.1–13.9 mm. |
Seeds | 4–7 mm, diam. 5.4–9.7 mm diam. 2n = 36. |
Sabal palmetto |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer (northern part of range) or year around (southern part of range). |
Habitat | Hammocks, pinelands, river banks, dunes, tidal flats |
Elevation | 0–40 m (0–100 ft) |
Distribution |
FL; GA; NC; SC; West Indies (Bahamas, Cuba)
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Discussion | 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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 22, p. 109. |
Parent taxa | Arecaceae > subfam. Coryphoideae > tribe Corypheae > subtribe Sabalinae > Sabal |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Corypha palmetto, Chamaerops palmetto, Corypha palma, Inodes palmetto, S. jamesiana |
Name authority | (Walter) Loddiges ex Schultes & Schultes f.: in J. J. Roemer et al., Syst. Veg. 7(2):1487. (1830) |
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