The Aracaceae (Palm) family in Central Florida by Sharon LaPlante

Rhapidophyllum hystrix, Needle palm Habit: An evergreen palm that has a stem that is below ground. The stem may eventually, with maturity, reach above the ground as much as 3 feet. Leaves: Petioles are smooth, but the leaf sheath does have a long needlelike spine. Leaf blades are fanlike without a midrib. The leaf surface is dark green above with lower surfaces and petioles having scaly pubescence. Flowers: Small & in clusters that appear in the spring & summer. Fruit: Fleshy, oval, or squarish to pear-shaped if crowded during growth. Reddish to purple-brown in color with a loose mat of tawny hairs that are easily rubbed off. Habitat: Wet to mesic woods, ravine slopes, and hammocks. Wildlife use: Bees, flies & wasps use the flowers for nectar, and the berries are an important wildlife food. Landscape:Part-shade, with average to moist, well drained, organic soils. Sabal etonia, Scrub palmetto Habit: An evergreen shrub with a subterranean trunk that may eventually, with maturity, reach above the ground as much as 3 feet. Leaves: Petioles are smooth. The leaves are palmately lobed, with long filaments. Flowers:Small, & in clusters born on stalks that appear in the spring & summer. Fruit: Fleshy, round fruit that is bluish-black when ripe. Habitat: Dry pinelands, oak scrub, and sand pine scrub. Wildlife use: Bees, flies & wasps use the flowers for nectar, and the berries are an important wildlife food. Landscape: Part-shade to full sun with dry to average soils. Sabal minor, Blue-stem palmetto Habit: An evergreen shrub with a subterranean trunk, rarely emerging to 5 feet. Leaves: Petioles are smooth, the leaves are bluish, & palmately divided into segments with a conspicuous V-shape, without filaments, without a midrib, & about 3 feet across. Flowers: Small, borne in clusters near the end of the stalk, and blooming in the spring, summer & fall. Fruit: Shiny, black, round berries. Habitat: Moist to wet woods. Wildlife use: Bees, flies & wasps use the flowers for nectar, and the berries are an important wildlife food. Landscape: Shade with moist organic soils. Sabal palmetto, Cabbage palm Habit: An evergreen tree with a single stem that may reach 75 feet in height. Leaves: The petioles are smooth. The leaf blades are fanlike with a midrib that curves downward, 3 feet across, divided into segments with a conspicuous V-shape, and having filaments. Flowers: Born in long-stalked, drooping, clusters that bloom in the spring & summer. Fruit: Dark fleshy, small, round berries. Habitat: Pinelands, prairies, hammocks, shell middens, & swamps. Wildlife use: Bees, flies & wasps use the flowers for nectar, and the berries are an important wildlife food. Landscape: Grows in shade to full sun with moist or dry, sandy or organic soils. Serenoa repens, Saw palmetto Habit: An evergreen shrub with above ground, horizontal stems that can reach 20 feet in height, but the average is 6 feet. Leaves: The petioles have sharp teeth. The leaves are palmately divided into segments without filaments, they have no midrib, and can reach up to 3 feet across. Flowers: Born in spike-like clusters that bloom in the spring & summer. Fruit: Black, fleshy, round berries. Habitat: Wet to dry pinelands, flatwoods, and hammocks. Wildlife use: Bees, flies & wasps use the flowers for nectar, and the berries are an important wildlife food. Landscape: Grows in shade to full sun with moist or dry, sandy or organic soils.

References: Austin, Dan. Scrub Plant Guide. Gumbo Limbo Nature Center of South Palm Beach County, Inc. 1993 Bell C. Ritchie and B. J. Taylor. Florida Wildflowers and Roadside Plants. Laurel HiII Press: Chapel Hill, NC. 1982 Godfrey, R.K., and J.W. Wooten. Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Northern Florida and Adjacent Georgia and Alabama. University of Georgia Press: Athens, GA 1988 Nelson, Gil. The Shrubs & Woody Vines of Florida. Pineapple Press: Sarasota, FL 1996 ISBN: 1561641103 (paperback); ISBN: 1561641065 (hardcover) Radford, Albert E., H. E. Ahles and C. R. Bell. Manual of Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. University of North Carolina: Chapel Hill, NC. 1964 ISBN: 0807810878 Wunderlin, Richard P. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Central Florida. University Press of Florida: Gainesville, FL. 1982 ISBN: 0813007488 Wunderlin, Richard P. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida. University Press of Florida: Gainesville, FL. 1998 ISBN: 0813015561 Wunderlin, Richard P. Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Florida Suncoast. USF Institute for Systemic Botany: Tampa, Fl. 1995

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