bush palmetto Arecaceae Sabal
minor (Jacq.) Pers. symbol: SAMI8
|Leaf: Alternate, palmately compound, fan shaped; leaflets very long (2 to 4 feet) and lance shaped; leaf stalk concave, extends into leaf blade 2 inches or less, and is without sharp edges; blue green in color, overall leaf nearly round and several feet long.
Flower: Small white flowers occurring on large (several feet), branched clusters, appearing in early summer.
Fruit: Fleshy drupe, nearly round, 1/3 inch across, dark blue, maturing in early fall and persistent into the winter.
Twig: Absent, since leaves appear directly out of unbranched short trunk.
Bark: Rough, gray-brown.
Form: Short bush with a round crown of large, fan shaped leaves.
Looks like: cabbage palmetto
- Everglades palm
- needle palm
- saw palmetto
| Additional Range Information:
Sabal minor is native to North America.
may be expanded by planting.
See states reporting bush palmetto.
| External Links:
USDA Plants Database
|© Copyright 2015, 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