Sabal Louisiana

[Tomsky]

Many years ago, I bought a palm from a local nursery and it was mislabeled as "Sabal Blackburniana". I soon realized that it was really Sabal minor. The leaves were not costapalmate. The erect fruit stalks were shorter than the leaves. As the years went by, it gradually kept creeping along.

Then three years ago, I observed that instead of the leaves coming from below ground level, it was attaining some height and there might actually be a trunk hidden behind the leaf bases. I kept cutting them off and ended up with a short, clean, but rough-textured trunk.

Once when I was in New Orleans, we took a cruise along the Mississippi. I saw similar Sabals with short trunks on the river banks. Thereforej I think that what I have is Sabal Louisiana.

Here's a photo of the trunk.

Jack

[Ray]

Sabal louisiana is classified as Sabal minor. They do form a trunk after so many years, just as the large ones on the coast of North Carolina. The fact that the flower stems on your palm do not reach above the crown, would make me doubt that it is an S. minor of any variety.

Can you post a picture of the whole palm?

[Tomsky]

Sabal louisiana is classified as Sabal minor. They do form a trunk after so many years, just as the large ones on the coast of North Carolina. The fact that the flower stems on your palm do not reach above the crown, would make me doubt that it is an S. minor of any variety.

Can you post a picture of the whole palm?

Thanks, Ray. I'm not up to date on the current taxonomy, so it's interesting to know that S. louisiana has been absorbed into S. minor. It's hard to get a full picture since it's in a crowded location, but here's photo of the crown and fruit.

Jack

[Ray]

It is possible that your plant may be a Brazoria palm, which is an intermediate hybrid between S. minor (no aboveground trunk) and S. mexicana (tall trunk). I wish we had a closer look at the leaf to see just how costapalmate it really is, and how far the petiole extends into the leaf. Having said that, the leaf does look a great deal like a S. louisiana, and it has the irregular boots on the trunk as most minors have.

Does the leaves have a bluish tint to them?

[Tomsky]

Ray, I would say that it's mostly green with hardly any bluish tint. I do have S. riverside which I've heard is a synonym for S. mexicana. Those huge fan leaves definitely have a bluish tint. Here are a couple closeups of my S. "louisiana" leaves.

Jack

[Tomsky]

Edited July 6, 2008 by Tomsky

[Tomsky]

One other thing I've noticed is that when the leaves get old, they fold down umbrella-style like other S. minors.

Jack

[Ray]

Jack,

Your palm looks more and more like a Louisiana, but I still can't reconcile that to the flower stalks being so short. I am including a link to a forum where a fellow palm grower up in Douglasville, Georgia, has pictured a Louisiana. When you look at it, notice the flower stalks towering above the leaf crown.

As for the "Riverside", I'm afraid that is another palm that almost defies parentage. Some believe it is probably a hybrid of Sabal bermudana, while others say It is probably a Caribbean species of Sabal. I have also saw it listed as a hybrid of Sabal mexicana, as you say that you have heard. Like the Sabal birmingham, it is doubtful that anyone knows for sure where it originated, as it was not a native of Riverside, as you probably know.

Check the picture of the S. louisiana on this link.

Sabal louisiana in Douglasville, Georgia

[Scott Zona]

Jack,

I think your palm is S. minor, which now includes S. louisiana and various other names for trunked individuals.

The flower stalk is short, but this condition is not at all uncommon (esp. in cultivated S. minor) or cause for concern.

Scott

[Tomsky]

Jack,

Your palm looks more and more like a Louisiana, but I still can't reconcile that to the flower stalks being so short. I am including a link to a forum where a fellow palm grower up in Douglasville, Georgia, has pictured a Louisiana. When you look at it, notice the flower stalks towering above the leaf crown.

As for the "Riverside", I'm afraid that is another palm that almost defies parentage. Some believe it is probably a hybrid of Sabal bermudana, while others say It is probably a Caribbean species of Sabal. I have also saw it listed as a hybrid of Sabal mexicana, as you say that you have heard. Like the Sabal birmingham, it is doubtful that anyone knows for sure where it originated, as it was not a native of Riverside, as you probably know.

Check the picture of the S. louisiana on this link.

Sabal louisiana in Douglasville, Georgia

Ray, the leaves on that photo look similar to mine, but the flower stalks are way above the leaves.

Jack

[Tomsky]

Jack,

I think your palm is S. minor, which now includes S. louisiana and various other names for trunked individuals.

The flower stalk is short, but this condition is not at all uncommon (esp. in cultivated S. minor) or cause for concern.

Scott

Scott, many years ago in the 1970s, I was attending a math meeting in Houston. Prior to the meeting,I looked up one of the Palm Society members who lived there. He sold me what he described as a Sabal louisiana. He said that he collected the seeds in Louisiana. Now 30 years later, it looks like a regular Sabal minor with the leaves coming from under the soil.

Jack

[Ray]

scottzona wrote:

The flower stalk is short, but this condition is not at all uncommon (esp. in cultivated S. minor)

Perhaps, but I live where S. minor is native and have seen thousands of them in the wild, and have never saw one with flower stalks shorter than the leaf crown. I have inquired with a friend, who runs a large nursery that produces S. minor, if he has witnessed any with short flower stalks.

Sometimes, if a plant is highly stressed, such as during a drought, they may produce irregular flower stalks, this I have seen. Of course, anything is possible, Jack's palm does look like a S. louisiana for sure.