Palmetto

Scientific Name: Sabal palmetto (Walter) Loddiges ex Schultes & Schultes
Synonym: Corypha palmetto, Inodes schwarzii
Family: Arecaceae

Recommended Temperature Zone:
Sunset®: 12-17,19-31
USDA: 8-10

Frost Tolerance: 10 to 12°F (-12 to -11°C)

Sun Exposure: Full sun to light shade

Origin: USA (North Caroliana to Florida), Cuba and the Bahamas

Growth Habits: Solitary palm, slowly up to 50 feet tall (15 m), or more, 12 to 18 feet in diameter (3.6-5.4 m); trunk, 18 inches (45 cm) in diameter, with lower part clean and the top with dried leaf bases, no crownshaft; stiff, spineless, medium-green to yellowish green leaves, 3 to 9 feet (1-3 m), strongly costapalmate (the leafstem reaches almost the end of the leaves); leaflets tips are split.

Watering Needs: Regular water, very salt and drought tolerant, prefers poorly drained soils

Propagation: Easy by seeds, germinating in 2 to 12 months, they might take 10 years to have a trunk

Blooming Habits:
The flower stalks appear in the spring, 8 feet long (2.4m) among the leaves, even on young palm trees. The hermaphroditic flowers are creamy to yellowish white, 0.25 inches long (0.8 cm)

Fruiting Habits:
Spherical black fruits, maturing in the fall, generally flattened on the end, 0.32 to 0.5 inch in diameter (8-12 mm), with a single round seed.