Dwarf palmetto

Description

Sabal minor, commonly known as the dwarf palmetto, is a small species of palm. It is native to the deep southeastern and south-central United States and northeastern Mexico. It is naturally found in a diversity of habitats, including maritime forests, swamps, floodplains, and occasionally on drier sites. It is often found growing in calcareous marl soil. Sabal minor is one of the most frost and cold tolerant among North American palms. This palm's native range spans on the Atlantic Coast from central Florida north to Monkey Island, North Carolina. On the Gulf Coast, it spans from central Florida to central Texas, Arkansas, north to southern Oklahoma and northern Alabama, then south in the State of Nuevo León in Mexico. Sabal Minor grows up to 3 meters in height, with a trunk up to 30 centimetres (12 in) 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 metres (4 ft 11 in – 6 ft 7 in) long, with 40 leaflets up to 80 centimetres (31 in) long, conjoined over half of this length. The flowers are yellowish-white, 5 millimetres (0.20 in) across, produced in large compound panicles up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) long, extending out beyond the leaves. The fruit is a black drupe 1 to 1.3 centimetres (0.39 to 0.51 in) long containing a single seed.