cabbage palmetto Arecaceae Sabal palmetto (Walter) Lodd. ex Schult. & Schult. f. symbol: SAPA Leaf: Alternate, palmately compound, fan shaped; Flower: Small white flowers occurring 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 unbranched trunk. Bark: Gray-brown, tough, splits vertically. Form: Tall (to 80 feet), straight trunk with a short rounded crown. Looks like: bush palmetto - Everglades palm - needle palm - saw palmetto Additional Range Information: Sabal palmetto is native to North America. Range may be expanded by planting. See states reporting cabbage palmetto. External Links: USDAFS Silvics of North America USDAFS Additional Silvics USDA Plants Database Horticulture © Copyright 2016, Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, all rights reserved. Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson