by Ann Huyler
South Carolina’s state tree is the sabal palm (Sabal palmetto), also known as the palmetto tree or cabbage palm, and the importance of the sabal palm to South Carolina cannot be understated.
- In 1777, the Great Seal of South Carolina was designed, and it included the sabal palm.
- In 1861, our state flag was adopted, and it included the sabal palm.
- Of course, in 1939, the sabal palm was designated as our state tree.
- In 2000, the U.S. Mint issued South Carolina’s Commemorative State Quarter, and it included the sabal palm and the nickname for South Carolina is the “Palmetto State.”
The historical significance of the sabal palm originates from the Revolutionary war when Colonel William Moultrie and South Carolina troops successfully repelled the British invasion of Sullivan’s Island in 1776. Part of that success was attributed to the sabal palm trunks that Fort Sullivan was constructed from. These trunks absorbed the force of British cannonballs and did not splinter.
The sabal palm is commonly found throughout Florida, and the native range is within 12 miles of the ocean from beaches to brackish marshes and coastal woodlands in South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina. Once established, the sabal palm is drought tolerant, flood tolerant, and has salt tolerant leaves. However, sabal palms grow best away from tidal overflow, such as behind the first beach dunes, as the roots poorly tolerate saltwater. The sabal palm also has a fire-resistant trunk, and native areas with pure stands can indicate the frequent occurrence of fires. Surprisingly sabal palms are cold tolerant down to 15°F– 20°F. To add to the durability of this species, sabal palms are remarkably wind resistant.
The vigor of our sabal palm has encouraged people to plant it in non-native areas and as street trees in our South Carolina cities. That being said, our sabal palm is not a tree.
Sabal palmetto is an evergreen palm with a single, unbranching fibrous trunk. Sabal palms typically reach 40 to 50 feet in height and can have a leafy canopy 15 feet wide. The trunk can expand to 24 inches in diameter, but only underground. Growth in trunk width occurs underground while the sabal palm is a juvenile. Once the maximum width has accrued and there is sufficient sunlight, the terminal bud, or palm heart, starts growing the trunk vertically and halts growth in diameter. This is why sabal palm trunks resemble telephone poles, except when people gouge out the base with weed eaters.
That damage to the trunk base is permanent for the full lifespan of the sabal palm, because, unlike trees, sabal palms do not produce the wound wood needed to seal over the gouges. Sabal palms do not create wood at all; their trunk is packed and strengthened with fiber, which is why they don’t splinter like oaks when hit with cannonballs. All trees create wood. For trees to access water in the soil, they develop “water pipes,” called primary xylem, in a thin ring around the outside edge of the trunk. Wood is formed when this primary xylem undergoes secondary thickening and lignification of its cell walls. When this secondary xylem dies, and no longer transports water and dissolved nutrients, it becomes the heartwood of a tree. The continuous creation of primary xylem and secondary xylem and heartwood increases the diameter of a tree’s trunk. Unlike a tree, the sabal palm’s trunk is threaded throughout with separate bundles of xylem and phloem (“sugar pipes” from leaves) bound together. These bundles are long transport pipes connecting the roots with the leaves, flowers, and terminal bud. A sabal palm’s xylem does not undergo secondary thickening and does not become heartwood. These “water pipes,” and “sugar pipes,” can live the full lifespan of the palm, sometimes over 100 years.
Our sabal palm does not need to be a tree. This palm will survive and grow in city sidewalk cutouts that would cripple a tree. Birds and bats find homes under the dead leaves. Bees, flies, beetles, and wasps consume the nectar and pollen from its abundant flowers, which also contribute to the production of palmetto honey. The fruit feeds deer, bear, raccoons, and a multitude of birds: bobwhite, wild turkey, robins, mockingbirds, myrtle warblers, ring-necked seagulls, cardinals, blue jays, scrub jays, and pileated woodpeckers. And, we all appreciate the lovely, rustling sound of palm leaves in the wind. Yes, our sabal palm is truly a palm, not a tree. But our sabal palm stands on its own merits.