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Trunking Sabal Minor in South Texas Habitat

Xerarch

By Xerarch
in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE

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Xerarch Grand Master

Xerarch

Posted
Posted

I’ve found quite a few native stands of Sabal minor here in Nueces county (Corpus Christi) most notably at the county park, and also along Oso creek. These pictured below are from Hazel Bazemore, county park. I have long admired them but this is the first time I noticed some of these trunks are big! That is at least for S. Minor. Hard to give justice in photos but here goes. 
IMG_3535.thumb.jpeg.974c9e2532b41756c222b81d9920e270.jpegIMG_3534.thumb.jpeg.aaa048570cd3dc797c9d5fb23cf326ce.jpegIMG_3537.thumb.jpeg.110ec351a5ca44725ff1e118005ec2af.jpegIMG_3541.thumb.jpeg.c0b9ad2fcba5cb30180ab41b13216188.jpeg

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Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

Xerarch Grand Master

Xerarch

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Posted

BTW one of my son’s middle school teachers told him that there are no native palms to Corpus Christi, they’re all planted and from somewhere else. Umm, what about these? And notice the presence of Sabal mexicana also, these are arguably native to this part of the Texas coast as they had been documented by early explorers. I don’t just consider these as volunteers, I consider that these are re-establishing naturally in their native habitat along the Nueces River. These are just some quick shots I took while I was out there with the kids watching green jays. 
IMG_5867.thumb.jpeg.a5df7427a1425c33b50bb0b2c2c01c4c.jpegIMG_3544.thumb.jpeg.13eb2c06091fb8c264bdba3561482692.jpegIMG_3543.thumb.jpeg.3329602cd3fe1bcb1651280169970ebb.jpegIMG_3542.thumb.jpeg.cb211998670e071d6d0a1f6f8b908aef.jpegIMG_3529.thumb.jpeg.44cc25910439f476be05f606f751c2dc.jpegIMG_3530.thumb.jpeg.488b2b070850cdff51d82cd1c7d7f772.jpeg

 

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Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

BeyondTheGarden Veteran

BeyondTheGarden

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, Xerarch said:

I’ve found quite a few native stands of Sabal minor here in Nueces county (Corpus Christi) most notably at the county park, and also along Oso creek. These pictured below are from Hazel Bazemore, county park. I have long admired them but this is the first time I noticed some of these trunks are big! That is at least for S. Minor. Hard to give justice in photos but here goes. 
IMG_3535.thumb.jpeg.974c9e2532b41756c222b81d9920e270.jpegIMG_3534.thumb.jpeg.aaa048570cd3dc797c9d5fb23cf326ce.jpegIMG_3537.thumb.jpeg.110ec351a5ca44725ff1e118005ec2af.jpegIMG_3541.thumb.jpeg.c0b9ad2fcba5cb30180ab41b13216188.jpeg

Those are cool, but I must wonder, is it normal for the crowns to be so small/so few green fronds?  

SeanK Grand Master

SeanK

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, BeyondTheGarden said:

Those are cool, but I must wonder, is it normal for the crowns to be so small/so few green fronds?  

Well, they ARE S.minor. I have some with only 6 leaves.

awkonradi Mentor

awkonradi

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, Xerarch said:

I’ve found quite a few native stands of Sabal minor here in Nueces county (Corpus Christi) most notably at the county park, and also along Oso creek. These pictured below are from Hazel Bazemore, county park. I have long admired them but this is the first time I noticed some of these trunks are big! That is at least for S. Minor. Hard to give justice in photos but here goes. 

Very cool.  Thanks for sharing.

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Andrei W. Konradi, Burlingame, California.  Vicarious appreciator of palms in other people's gardens and in habitat

  • 2 weeks later...
amh Grand Master

amh

Posted
Posted
On 12/29/2023 at 7:46 PM, Xerarch said:

I’ve found quite a few native stands of Sabal minor here in Nueces county (Corpus Christi) most notably at the county park, and also along Oso creek. These pictured below are from Hazel Bazemore, county park. I have long admired them but this is the first time I noticed some of these trunks are big! That is at least for S. Minor. Hard to give justice in photos but here goes. 
IMG_3535.thumb.jpeg.974c9e2532b41756c222b81d9920e270.jpegIMG_3534.thumb.jpeg.aaa048570cd3dc797c9d5fb23cf326ce.jpegIMG_3537.thumb.jpeg.110ec351a5ca44725ff1e118005ec2af.jpegIMG_3541.thumb.jpeg.c0b9ad2fcba5cb30180ab41b13216188.jpeg

Are these trunking S. minors in an area of seasonal flooding? I've wondered if being temporarily submerged in water would cause this species to trunk.

The picture tour is great. Green jays can be very entertaining and I wish they would return to the southern hill country.

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NC_Palms Veteran

NC_Palms

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, amh said:

Are these trunking S. minors in an area of seasonal flooding? I've wondered if being temporarily submerged in water would cause this species to trunk.

The picture tour is great. Green jays can be very entertaining and I wish they would return to the southern hill country.

I'm convinced flooding causes S. minor to develop larger trunks than those that grow in dryer sites. I have noticed that in Eastern NC (where are native minors are notoriously larger than elsewhere) 

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Zone 8a/8b Greenville, NC 

Zone 9a/9b Bluffton, SC

Brad52 Experienced

Brad52

Posted
Posted

Do people poach those much?  I like em.

Austinpalm Experienced

Austinpalm

Posted
Posted
On 12/29/2023 at 7:46 PM, Xerarch said:

I’ve found quite a few native stands of Sabal minor here in Nueces county (Corpus Christi) most notably at the county park, and also along Oso creek. These pictured below are from Hazel Bazemore, county park. I have long admired them but this is the first time I noticed some of these trunks are big! That is at least for S. Minor. Hard to give justice in photos but here goes. 
IMG_3535.thumb.jpeg.974c9e2532b41756c222b81d9920e270.jpegIMG_3534.thumb.jpeg.aaa048570cd3dc797c9d5fb23cf326ce.jpegIMG_3537.thumb.jpeg.110ec351a5ca44725ff1e118005ec2af.jpegIMG_3541.thumb.jpeg.c0b9ad2fcba5cb30180ab41b13216188.jpeg

Great pix Xerarch.  I need to get to Hazel Bazemore to see that for myself.  It is great to see two of Texas' three native palms in one location.  Wish S. minor was native down here, but guess there just are not enough permanent waterholes in the South Texas sand sheet area between Corpus and us to the south to allow that.  Neat to see trunked minors so far south as well.  Have seen several around Houston, but nowhere else.  Thanks for sharing.

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Clay

South Padre Island, Zone 10b until the next vortex.

Xerarch Grand Master

Xerarch

Posted
  • Author
Posted
4 hours ago, amh said:

Are these trunking S. minors in an area of seasonal flooding? I've wondered if being temporarily submerged in water would cause this species to trunk.

The picture tour is great. Green jays can be very entertaining and I wish they would return to the southern hill country.

Certainly these are in wet areas, being next to a pond and next to the river, there are others in the area that are not next to water but more just in the understory.  I don't know the frequency that these might flood but the photo I have of the trunks are actually a little higher up the slope than others.  I can't tell if ones that are more down in the water have equal trunks or not, was not in the mood to go trudging through a bunch of wet muck to find out.

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Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

Xerarch Grand Master

Xerarch

Posted
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Posted
4 hours ago, amh said:

Green jays can be very entertaining and I wish they would return to the southern hill country.

I had been under the impression that they hadn't been found in the southern hill country in the past but have been creeping that direction of late as their range has been expanding quite a bit.  Had they been recorded there more in the past?

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

Xerarch Grand Master

Xerarch

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Posted
1 hour ago, Brad52 said:

Do people poach those much?  I like em.

Not that I know of, in fact they are a very underappreciated palm in these parts.  Very few public plantings to be seen, and I am not even sure the ones I do see are even sourced from here, for all I know they brought them from Florida or something.  Very few locals have any clue at all about our native palms.

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

Xerarch Grand Master

Xerarch

Posted
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Posted
1 hour ago, Austinpalm said:

Wish S. minor was native down here, but guess there just are not enough permanent waterholes in the South Texas sand sheet area between Corpus and us to the south to allow that. 

I suppose that is true, but how then does Sabal 'tamaulipas' exist? If tamaulipas is indeed some form of or closely related to S minor, somehow the RGV got skipped!

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

Xerarch Grand Master

Xerarch

Posted
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On 12/29/2023 at 8:02 PM, BeyondTheGarden said:

Those are cool, but I must wonder, is it normal for the crowns to be so small/so few green fronds?  

Actually I hadn't even really noticed until this comment and then looking at the pictures it does look that way, the overall effect in person made them look quite lush especially in a group.  But I guess they don't tend to hold tons of fronds 

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

amh Grand Master

amh

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Xerarch said:

I had been under the impression that they hadn't been found in the southern hill country in the past but have been creeping that direction of late as their range has been expanding quite a bit.  Had they been recorded there more in the past?

The highest concentrations that I have seen were in the Bigwells area during the 90's, but that is true South Texas. The green jays would arrive in my area during the winter and leave in the early spring. And then, about 1995 or 1996, they just quit coming here. I don't know if it was habitat loss or if maybe it has just become too cold, either way I miss these boisterous, vibrant colored birds.

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redbeard917 Mentor

redbeard917

Posted
Posted

Those trunking ones are really cool. I bet in normal garden conditions they would hold more fronds. I would definitely find a place in my garden for a Nueces County minor based on these photos (just FYI for the sellers out there). As for the discussion about the terrain they grow in, if you keep going around the Gulf Coast to my area of north Florida, our minors are tiny compared to these, and primarily exist in swamps, but occasional specimens can be seen growing up the hillsides too.

Woodville, FL

zone 8b

SeanK Grand Master

SeanK

Posted
Posted
On 1/10/2024 at 12:02 AM, amh said:

The highest concentrations that I have seen were in the Bigwells area during the 90's, but that is true South Texas. The green jays would arrive in my area during the winter and leave in the early spring. And then, about 1995 or 1996, they just quit coming here. I don't know if it was habitat loss or if maybe it has just become too cold, either way I miss these boisterous, vibrant colored birds.

Cellular phone towers (signals) affected bird's migratory habits.

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