Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Arecales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Sabal minor
FAMILY
Arecaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Sabal from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
No other New World palm has a native range extending so far north (Currituck County, NC). It has been widely planted horticulturally in se. VA and is now naturalized there. Read more in Weakley's Flora (2023).
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Sabal minor
FAMILY
Arecaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Sabal minor
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 22 (2000)
Sabal minor
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Sabal minor
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 031-02-001:
Sabal minor FAMILY Arecaceae
INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Sabal deeringiana
INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Sabal minor
COMMON NAME:
Dwarf Palmetto, Bush Palmetto, Dwarf Blue Palmetto, Bluestem Palmetto
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_sami8_005_pvd
)
Mark A. Musselman mam_dwarfpalmetto031406
March Dorchester County SC
Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest
)
JK Marlow jkm100508_006
May Charleston County SC
Drayton Hall
Flowers on the way..
)
JK Marlow jkm180506_484
May Crawford County GA
)
JK Marlow jkm090627_036
June Mecklenburg County NC
UNCC Botanical Garden
Petiole unarmed, per Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988).
)
JK Marlow jkm090627_038
June Mecklenburg County NC
UNCC Botanical Garden
Leaf blades without a midrib, per Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast (Foote & Jones, 1989).
)
JK Marlow jkm100612_080
June Mecklenburg County NC
UNCC McMillan Greenhouse
)
JK Marlow jkm090717_053
July Georgetown County SC
Hobcaw Barony
Stem below ground (rarely emerging). Petioles long and 3-angled, per Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses (Miller & Miller, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm090717_057
July Georgetown County SC
Hobcaw Barony
)
Sam Pratt sbp_102521_1039
October Spartanburg County SC
in cultivation
Drupes globose, 6-8mm in diameter, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm071231_006
December McCormick County SC
Sumter National Forest: Edgefield Ranger District
Blade usually divided medially, a long V-shaped gap between the two halves, per Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Northern Florida and Adjacent Georgia and Alabama (Godfrey, 1988).
COMPARE
Palm and Palmetto species
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Sabal minor
FAMILY
Arecaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Sabal minor
FAMILY
Arecaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Sabal minor
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 22
Sabal minor
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Sabal minor
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 031-02-001:
Sabal minor
FAMILY
Arecaceae
INCLUDING
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Sabal deeringiana
INCLUDING
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Sabal minor
1290
Shrub
Perennial
Habitat: swamps, maritime forests, low moist woods, especially in calcareous soils developed from shell limestone (marl), hardwood flatwoods, marshes, saline barrens, also rarely planted as an ornamental farther inland, where persisting (and appearing native) or possibly naturalizing, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Coastal Plain of the Carolinas & Georgia, and the GA Piedmont
Common in Coastal Plain (rare in Piedmont)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Evergreen
Palmately compound
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Radially symmetrical
3 sepals
3 petals
Superior ovary
Bisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Drupe
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses (Miller & Miller, 2005) p396
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p092
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p296
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p452
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p502
- How to Recognize Shrubs (Grimm, 1966) p068
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p228
- Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast (Foote & Jones, 1989) p052
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p049
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p310
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