Sabal palmetto
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 Sabal palmetto grove in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
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| Sabal palmetto (Walt.) Lodd. |
Sabal palmetto, also known as Cabbage Palm, Palmetto, Cabbage Palmetto, and Sabal Palm, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm (Arecaceae, genus Sabal). It is native to the southeastern United States, Cuba, and the Bahamas. In the United States it occurs throughout Florida and into coastal Georgia and South Carolina with a single extant population in North Carolina on Cape Fear, Smiths Island. Although historically reported from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, this population has long been extirpated. As of 2007, a population of Sabal palmetto has become naturalized on the Outer Banks once again, growing in scrubland alongside the related Sabal Minor [1].
Sabal palmetto grows up to 20 m in height, 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 yellowish-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. It is extremely salt-tolerant and is often seen growing near the Atlantic Ocean coast, and also frost-tolerant, surviving short periods of temperatures as low as -14 °C.
[edit] Cultivation and uses
Sabal palmetto is popular in cultivation for its tolerance of salt spray and cold. It is the state tree of South Carolina and Florida. Most references rate the species as hardy to USDA hardiness zone 8a without protection, although with protection it might be grown into zone 7.
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 and tastes like an artichoke. It is what is referred to in a Heart of palm salad. This was commonly eaten by Native Americans. However, this practice is very destructive as it will 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.
[edit] References
- Zona, S. 1990. A monograph of Sabal (Arecaceae: Coryphoideae). Aliso 12: 583-666.
