Sabal Palm or Cabbage PalmettoArecaceae Sabal palmetto
Leaf
Alternate, palmately compound, fan shaped; leaflets very long (4 to 6 feet) and lance-shaped, leaf stalks are long, extend through the leaf, and arewithout sharp edges; green in color, overall leaf nearly round and several feetlong.
Flower
Small white flowers occur on large (several feet), branched clusters,appearing in early summer.
Fruit
Fleshy drupe, nearly round, 1/3 to 1/2 inch across, dark shiny blue, maturing in early fall and persistent into the winter.
Twig
Absent, since leaves appear directly out of the unbranched trunk.
Bark
Gray-brown, tough, split vertically.
Form
Tall (to 80 feet), straight trunk with a short rounded crown.
Copyright 2019 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental
Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen,
Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag
Handbook 654; range map source information
