Cabbage palm

Description

Sabal palmetto, also known as cabbage palm, cabbage palmetto, sabal palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, Garfield's tree, and swamp cabbage, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm. It is native to the Southern United States and the West Indies. Sabal palmetto grows up to 20 metres (65 feet) tall. Starting at half to two-thirds the height, the tree develops into a rounded, costapalmate fan of numerous leaflets. A costapalmate leaf has a definite costa (midrib) unlike the typical palmate or fan leaf, but the leaflets are arranged radially like in a palmate leaf. All costapalmate leaves are about 5 millimetres (1⁄4 inch) across, produced in large compound panicles up to 2.5 m (8 ft) in radius, extending out beyond the leaves. The fruit is a black drupe about 1.3 centimetres (1⁄2 in) long containing a single seed. It is extremely salt-tolerant and is often seen growing near both the Atlantic Ocean coast and the Gulf of Mexico coast. Sabal palmetto is native to the Southern United States, specifically the coastal plain of the lower East Coast including southeast North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Florida. It can also be found in Cuba, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas. The species is hardy to the US Department of Agriculture's zone 8, and has been reported to have some cold hardness down to 8.6 °F or −13.0 °C, but needs hot and humid summers to grow well. Maintenance of the cabbage palm tree is very easy and very adaptable. The cabbage palmetto is known to tolerate drought, standing water and brackish water. Even though this palm is drought-tolerant, it thrives on regular light watering and regular feeding. It is highly tolerant of salt winds, but not saltwater flooding. In 1998, a new mutant form of S. palmetto was discovered in southwest Florida, and named as a cultivar, Sabal palmetto "Lisa". This cultivar has unusually thick and leathery, largely fused leaflets that give the palm a unique and appealing appearance. Over 60% of the seedlings have the same leaf characteristics as the parent plant and Sabal palmetto "Lisa" has been popularized in the nursery trade in Florida over the last 20 years and proven to be as resistant to heat, wind, cold, drought, and neglect as the common form while keeping its shape.