Forest Resources and Conservation Fact Sheet
FOR-3
The Cabbage Palm -Our State Tree
| Background Information |
| Range |
| FL Vegetation Types Containing Cabbage Palm |
| Uses of Cabbage Palm |
| Landscape Uses |
| Growing Sabal Palmetto from Seed |
A. S. Jensen'
The sabal palmetto or cabbage palm has been a symbol of the real Florida since long before it was designated our state tree by Florida legislature in 1953. Forestry interests in northern Florida favored the slash pine as our official state tree. Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) is the native pine extensively planted for reforestation and is the basis of our important timber industry. However, from an unbiased viewpoint the cabbage palm is really a more fitting symbol of Florida. Visions of visitors are more of endless beaches with palms rather than managed pine flatwoods.
Many Floridians don't realize that South Carolina has been known as the palmetto state since 1776. During the American Revolution colonists built a small fort of palmetto logs and defeated the British trying to capture Charleston Harbor. Col. Moultrie, the British commander, saw a British ship burning and the smoke cloud looked like a palmetto tree to him. The South Carolina legislature officially adopted the sabal palmetto as their state tree in 1939-some 15 years before Florida.
The cabbage palm occurs near the coast from southeastern North Carolina (Cape Fear) through southeastern Georgia, south through Florida including the Florida Keys and west to northwestern Florida (Port St. Joe).
Florida Vegetation Types Containing Cabbage Palm
Forest type 86 of the Society of American Foresters' Forest Cover Types of North America is cabbage palmetto-slash pine. Here palm and slash pine predominate. This forest type occupies areas of marsh close to the coast and the flatwoods areas of southern Florida. In south Florida this type is sometimes called dry prairie or marly flatwoods. Palm forests range from dense stands with scattered live oaks to scattered groves of palms. Individual cabbage palms occur abundantly in pine flatwoods, south Florida flatwoods, swamp forests and wet prairies throughout Florida.
Palm valleys, palm hammocks, palmetto jungles and palmetto swamps are all terms used to describe vegetation types containing many palm trees. Cabbage bluff, cabbage grove, cabbage hammock, cabbage knoll, cabbage land, cabbage pond, cabbage swamp and cabbage tree island all refer to topographic features of the landscape dominated by our state tree. Rural schools, churches, crossroads, and cemeteries often bear the cabbage prefix: Cabbage Grove School or Cabbage Palm Church, etc.
In times past cabbage palm logs were used for fortification walls, dock pilings, or, sometimes, log cabin walls. Baskets, mats and hats are made from the leaves. Seminole Indians build hurricane-proof dwellings roofed with cabbage palm fronds. Fiber for brush manufacture comes from young leaf bases. The central unopened leaf bud is still gathered by a few people to sell to churches to make Palm Sunday crosses. The tender portion of the central bud is also cut from the tree and eaten raw or cooked as swamp cabbage. It is sometimes sold in rural Florida grocery stores. But remember this is our official state tree and it is protected by law. Don't cut swamp cabbage unless you have written permission of the landowner. Palmetto berries have limited value as a wildlife food.
Sabal palmetto is a favorite Florida landscape plant. It does well on wet or dry sites and is also salt tolerant and is found in exposed locations near the shore line.
Large woods-grown palms are easily transplanted if proper equipment is available to move them. Each year many thousand large cabbage palms are transplanted around Florida buildings, homes and gardens.
Palms may be planted at any season of the year if properly planted and cared for. But be sure to obtain only healthy specimens handled properly. Dig the planting hole twice as wide as the soil ball and a little deeper than the height of the ball. Mix top soil from the hole with an equal amount of peat, muck or compost. Place the palm in the hole and support it with wooden poles to make it wind-firm. Fill in around the ball with prepared soil, water thoroughly to remove air pockets. Form a basin with excess soil around the base to make watering easier. Mulch the palm by spreading leaves, straw or other organic material around the palm to reduce soil temperature and to conserve moisture and organic matter. Shade-grown palms should be protected from full sun for several weeks after planting. Water daily for the first few weeks and frequently thereafter until the palms are well established. Fertilize several weeks after planting and continue on a regular schedule. Use organic or inorganic fertilizers. Organic materials such as tankage, bone meal and sewage sludges can be used as a fertilizer mulch beneath the palm.
Inorganic fertilizers such as 6-6-6 or 8-8-8 are good for general use. About one pound of fertilizer per inch of trunk diameter two or three times a year can be applied. One of these applications might include a commercial palm fertilizer containing micronutrients (Ornamental Horticulture Fact Sheet 21).
Growing Sabal Palmetto from Seed
Cabbage palm has drooping clusters of flowers five to six feet long from June through August. The flowers are pollinated by insects. Palmetto berries ripen in late autumn or winter. Each fruit contains one light brown seed about 1/4 inch (6 mm) in diameter. Seed may be collected from the tree or from the ground. The pulp may be separated by rubbing them on hardware cloth. There are about 1600 clean seeds to the pound.
No pretreatment is necessary to break dormancy but 30 days stratification in moist sand at 38° F increases speed of germination (stratified seed germinates in about 60 days-unstratified seed in 120 days). The seed should be planted ½ to 1 inch deep in light textured soil soon after collection or stratification. Seed should not be permitted to dry.Palm seedlings in heavy shade grow slowly. Seedlings grown in the open on fertile soil make rapid growth and may reach 25 feet high in 15 or 20 years.
Palms are monocots, (members of the same plant family as grasses and corn) and don't increase in trunk diameter or have growth rings. Variations in trunk diameter at various height on the trunk record good and bad years and other events such as transplanting in the life of our state tree. Determining the age of large cabbage palms is difficult.
Your local county extension office or Division of Forestry county forester can provide you with additional information on cabbage palm. Many local nurseries can supply cabbage palms for planting.
'Former Associate Professor Extension Wildlife, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611.
