Cabbage Palm

Designated as the Florida State Tree. 

Trees on coastal islands in the Big Bend area are failing to reproduce due to sea level rise, and islands in the marshes are getting progressively smaller.

Does not produce wood with annual rings like most trees. It lives as a shrub for ten years or more until its trunk has achieved enough girth before it starts adding height. Its trunk will not add girth once this happens and palms do not have the ability to heal wounds or gouges in the trunk--so be careful with your palms.



Specimen plant or in a hurricane resistant grove.

Tolerant of occasional/brief inundation such as can occur in storm surges.



Moderate. Tolerant of salty wind and may get some salt spray. Exposure to salt spray would be uncommon (major storms).

Fronds and flower stalks fall. Seeds sprout readily and can require control. In southern part of the state, strangler figs can sprout in the boots and eventually overwhelm the palm.

Seeds used by small mammals such as raccoons. Used by birds for nesting.

Dead palm fronds -- roosting habitat for yellow bats.  Their yellowish color blends in with the color of the fronds and makes them almost invisible. The dead palm fronds hanging down below the live leaves, serve as one of their favorite roost sites. It is almost impossible to see them since they hide so well and the color of their fur blends right in with the dead palm fronds.

Flatwoods, moist hammocks, swamps, river floodplains, ruderal

• Interesting bark, Interesting foliage, Hurricane wind resistance
• Larval host plant for Monk Skipper (Asbolis capucinus) butterfly.
• Pollinated by bees.