Plant Profile: Florida's Native Palms

Text and photos by Jan Allyn

Includes excerpts from Handbook of Landscape Palms

Visitors to Florida are fascinated by the palms they see in landscapes around the state, but most of the palms they admire aren't Florida natives. Of the dozens of palms grown here, just ten are native to Florida. Unfortunately, many of them are categorized as either threatened or endangered. Palms are more closely related to grasses and stemless plants than the other plants we call trees. Their fruits are generally berry- or nut-like and though they provide valuable food for birds and mammals, none of our native palms has fruit that is palatable to humans. However, native Americans and early pioneers were very fond of eating the heart of Sabal palmetto, calling it swamp cabbage; unfortunately, this harvest was lethal to the palm. Jonathan Dickinson, shipwrecked near Jupiter in 1696, resorted to eating saw palmetto berries to stave off hunger but was disdainful of their taste, likening it to rotten cheese steeped in tobacco juice. Palm flowers are very attractive to pollinators and many are sweetly scented. Over 300 different species of insects have been observed visiting the flowers of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) at Archbold Biological Station in central Florida.

Too many people overprune palms, an unwise practice. So-called harsh pruning removes not only dead fronds but lower, healthy green ones. Because the green leaves produce food for the palm via photosynthesis, removing them steals the palm's source of nutrients and may stunt the palm's growth. Undernourished palms are prone to develop weakened and unattractive bottleneck trunks, making them much more susceptible to wind and frost damage.

Here are short profiles of our native Florida palms:

<< Royal palm–Roystonea regia: Our most spectacular palm, the royal is well named. It is tall and straight, with a cement-gray trunk slightly bulged in the center, topped by a bright, glossy-green crownshaft. Its sweeping, feather-shaped leaves may be 10 feet long and 6 feet wide. A row of these beautiful palms in a park or along a boulevard is simply stunning, and on windy days the sound of their rustling fronds is delightful. Florida and Cuban royal palms were once considered to be distinct, but botanists now group them together in a single species. Royal palms are sensitive to cold and St. Petersburg is the approximate northern limit of their range.

Cabbage palm–Sabal palmetto: This is our most common single-trunked palm and is Florida's state tree, as well as that of South Carolina. Its trunk sometimes has old leaf bases or bootjacks surrounding all or part of it, making an interesting criss-cross pattern. Its sweetly fragrant, yellowish-white flowers appear spring through fall and are very attractive to pollinators. Cabbage palm is extremely hardy, tolerant of frost, salt, wind, and drought. Because it is so highly adaptable, it is found in many different Florida plant communities. Two other palms in this genus are also native to Florida: Dwarf palmetto (S. minor) and scrub palmetto (S. etonia). Both strongly resemble the cabbage palm but are essentially trunkless. Dwarf palmetto is found as far west as Texas and as far north as North Carolina in partial shade in moist bottomland. By contrast, scrub palmetto prefers the dry sandy soil of the Lake Wales Ridge and coastal scrubs; it is found only in Florida.

Saw palmetto–Serenoa repens: Common in Florida, coastal Georgia and South Carolina, this low-growing palm forms huge colonies. It is very resistant to fire, and though it may at first appear to have been destroyed, soon green shoots will emerge from the charred remains of the trunks. A form with bluish-tinged foliage is often used in the landscape trade; these plants originated on the Atlantic coast and reportedly grow much faster than the green form. Drought resistant, cold hardy and salt tolerant, saw palmetto is found throughout the entire state and in many different plant communities. The saw palmetto is the symbol of the Florida Native Plant Society.

>> Everglades palm–Acoelorraphe wrightii: In recent years this palm has become more popular in landscaping. A denizen of swampy places in south Florida, it is flood and salt resistant and will also withstand short periods of drought. Its narrow trunks may reach 25 ft. in height and are covered in reddish-brown fibers. They are topped by a crown of very round, fan-shaped leaves, green above and silvery beneath. Everglades palm is a clustering palm that suckers freely, so give it room in the landscape.

Thatch palms–Thrinax spp.: Both key thatch palm (T. morrisii) and Florida thatch palm (T radiata) are uncommon, native to extreme south Florida, and classified as endangered. Though very salt and drought tolerant, they can be killed by frost. A grouping of several of these small palms is lovely as the focal point of a flowerbed or to soften a stark corner of the garden. Their shiny, white pea-sized white fruit is relished by wildlife.

<< Buccaneer palm–Pseudophoenix sargentii: Also known as Sargent's cherry palm, this petite palm is an ideal specimen for a small garden. It grows no taller than about 10 feet and is native to the Caribbean and Florida Keys. Its bluish-green, feathery foliage, pale green crownshaft, yellow flowers and beautiful red fruit make it a colorful landscape subject in all seasons. Slow-growing and intolerant of frost, buccaneer palm is nevertheless very tolerant of drought, salt, and pests, is adaptable to different soil types, needs little or no fertilizer, and will grow in full sun to partial shade. It is classified as endangered.(photo by Lorraine Margeson)

>> Needle palm–Rhapidophyllum hystrix: This very slow-growing palm has dark green, deeply divided leaves. Although it is very drought tolerant, its natural habitats are wet: shady hammocks near swamps or mesic forests. It takes its name from the black, needle-like spines up to 8 inches long protruding from the trunk, from among the leaf bases. Though it benefits from occasional fertilization and regular irrigation, it's very drought resistant once established and also somewhat salt tolerant. It never gets very large, topping out at about 5 feet in height, with a diameter of perhaps 10 feet. Frost tolerant, it grows as far north as zone 8 but occurs naturally only as far south as Highlands County.

Florida silver palm–Coccothrinax argentata: This small palm is ideally suited for landscapes in south Florida and coastal central Florida. It is very drought and salt tolerant and will withstand some frost, but only if placed in a protected location. It grows very slowly but thrives without fertilizer and with little water. It attains a height of only 15 feet, with pretty fan-shaped leaves that are dull green above and silvery below. The upper part of its slender, gray trunk is surrounded by layers of fiber. This palm species is classified as threatened.

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