sabal minor

[edric]

I believe this is a Sabal minor, the camera is facing south, so it doesn't get to much except mid-summer, I must say never had a liking for clustering palms, so far it doesn't appear this one has, but it's really gorgeous, it's on the bank above the canal, across the street from the old New Smyrna Bch. High School property, on city property, at the west end of Quay Assissi, on Venezia, Ed

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Edric, I'm pretty sure its Serenoa repens, Saw Palmetto. Leaves don't look right for S. minor. Also, the size is suspicious and the color is too gray/silvery. It is indeed a nice color though.

[edric]

This palm is very old, and there is no armature on the petiole whatsoever, I have forty Serenoa repens growing in my side yard, not that, there is a blue form of S. minor, from what I hear, I will know very soon as I am approaching that folder for research on Palmpedia shortly, saw palmetto is all armed and very green, I am very familiar with it as I raise it, Ed

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Ed, that'd be an exciting and uncommon find. If there are seeds, or old infructescense, that'd be a real help. I've never heard of a sawless saw palmetto so it might just be a special Sabal! Lets hope so.

[PalmatierMeg]

I didn't think Sabals clustered. If this is one it is a true rarity.

[SEPalm]

It's a silver Serenoa repens.

[tjwalters]

Wow...doesn't look anything like S. repens to me. Me thinks S. minor. Got a shot of the base? Any chance it could be S. uresana (any trunk forming)?

[SEPalm]

Here is a silver saw palmetto. The pictures posted almost look like a greenxsilver cross.

I have sabals growing wild all around. Their petiole's are fairly large/thick even on younger trees. Palmettos are so much smaller which is what I am seeing. Just my opinion.

Edited January 9, 2013 by SEPalm

[sergiskan]

Wonderful sable!!

...beautiful colour.

[edric]

Well you guys that ID'd it as Serenoa repens were right, I inch my way down the steep embankment ( and it was steep) and as soon as I started grabbing debris and clearing it out of the way, I was bleeding from one of my fingers, none of the petiole at the top of the palm had barbs, but the older ones sure did, plus a sucker at the base of the trunk, the first couple photos are of another stand about 200 ft. east, on the way home entering Oak Hill, I noticed a couple of other stands of this blue form, sure wish the ones in my side yard were that silver-blue color, they're green as can be, Ed

[PalmatierMeg]

Ed, are you able to collect seeds from those blue Serenoa or are they stripped off by trespassers who try to sell them to drug processing companies? If you can harvest some you can grow your own palms. It's gotten so bad around here since the last recession that saw palmettos are left with no seeds to reproduce. We've had people invade the State wildlife preserve where I work to get at the saw palmetto seeds.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Ed, it's still a wonderful specimen. The silver ones and their somewhat less striking blue siblings are available for sale here in FL. They really look nice mixed into a planting. So even if you already have 40, why not go for 50? If you need a list of nurseries that sell them, let me know. Maybe someone on PalmTalk will offer some Silver or Blue ones. BTW, wasn't it a gorgeous day today? I know we'll pay for it in a week or 2, but it's like summer here in Winter Haven.

[tjwalters]

The leaves in the latest pictures appear to be much stiffer than those in the original pictures. Are you certain that's the same palm? First pictures look Sabal minor. Latest pictures look Serenoa repens.

[edric]

Meg, No one bothers these palms, at the other end of the street it's all million dollar homes, when it goes to seed I will brave the steep slope, and collect the fruit, and I'll be sure to send you some seeds, you can bank on it (no pun intended), I think I'll go back and remove the one small sucker I saw, ( no pun intended), I'll keep in touch.

Keith I'm in no position to be buying anything right now, the ones in my side yard that I water are on a partially cleared lot that belongs to the neighbor, he has agreed to let me harvest fruit from them, he's one of those saw happy tree trimmers (no pun intended) it's been a hard road to follow with him since when he first moved in I hadn't gotten the Hawaiin Woodrose isolated to just that one tree in the back yard yet, and it cleared two residential lots for him before he finally got it eradicated seven years later.

Tom, yes the ones in the recent photos I just posted are also S. repens, they are getting twice as much sun, and the few I spotted on US-1 in Oak Hill llook Idenentical to these two first photos I just posted, the other 2000 I spotted are all green as can be. Ed

[sergiskan]

The leaves in the latest pictures appear to be much stiffer than those in the original pictures. Are you certain that's the same palm? First pictures look Sabal minor. Latest pictures look Serenoa repens.

Hello.

I'm agree, the first palm doesn't look the same as second one, for sure serenoa, but the first palm, with those dropped leaves, and lightly costapalmate..., looks like a sabal...

Regards.

[edric]

The leaves in the latest pictures appear to be much stiffer than those in the original pictures. Are you certain that's the same palm? First pictures look Sabal minor. Latest pictures look Serenoa repens.

Hello.

I'm agree, the first palm doesn't look the same as second one, for sure serenoa, but the first palm, with those dropped leaves, and lightly costapalmate..., looks like a sabal...

Regards.

Hi Sergi, they are both S. repens, as they both have saw teeth on the petiole, and as was stated earlier Sabal minor have petiole 5 times the diameter, and never any armed petiole, Ed

[Phoenikakias]

I have a fruiting Serenoa in my garden as silvery as Brahea armata. I think the intensity of the siver coating has to do also with lthe intensity of sunshine and warmth. But leaves are very stiff, not so .. drooping, like Sergiskan has pointed out previously with respect to the exemplary in the first pic.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Phoenikakias

[sergiskan]

The leaves in the latest pictures appear to be much stiffer than those in the original pictures. Are you certain that's the same palm? First pictures look Sabal minor. Latest pictures look Serenoa repens.

Hello.

I'm agree, the first palm doesn't look the same as second one, for sure serenoa, but the first palm, with those dropped leaves, and lightly costapalmate..., looks like a sabal...

Regards.

Hi Sergi, they are both S. repens, as they both have saw teeth on the petiole, and as was stated earlier Sabal minor have petiole 5 times the diameter, and never any armed petiole, Ed

hello Edric

...thanks for the reply, of course that it has teeth on the petiole, it isn´t a sabal..., but those leaves doesn´t look like a serenoa repens.

anyway is a beautiful palm, thanks for the pics.

regards.

[Eric in Orlando]

It is Serenoa and a very nice colored one !!!

The silver-blue forms keep nice coloring even in shade.