Scrub palmetto facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Scrub palmetto |
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| Sabal etonia at Archbold Biological Station, Florida, United States | |
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Sabal
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| Species: |
etonia
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Sabal etonia, also known as the scrub palmetto, is a type of palm plant. It grows only in the Florida peninsula in the United States. You can find it in special areas called Florida sand pine scrub communities. These areas are unique habitats for many plants and animals.
What Does the Scrub Palmetto Look Like?
The scrub palmetto is a fan palm. This means its leaves look like a fan. It usually has a single stem that grows underground. Sometimes, though, its stem can grow above the ground, reaching up to 2 m (6.6 ft) tall.
Most scrub palmetto plants have about four to seven leaves. Each leaf has 25 to 50 smaller parts called leaflets. The plant also grows flowers in clusters called inflorescences. These flower clusters are branched and look bushy. They are shorter than the leaves.
After flowering, the plant produces brownish-black fruit. These fruits are small, usually about 0.9–1.5 cm (0.4–0.6 in) long and 0.8–1.3 cm (0.3–0.5 in) wide.
How Scientists Classify the Scrub Palmetto
Scientists group living things into categories. The scrub palmetto belongs to the Sabal group of palms. It is part of the subfamily called Coryphoideae. It also belongs to a smaller group called the tribe Sabaleae.
The scrub palmetto was first described in 1896. An American botanist named Walter Tennyson Swingle studied it. He found the plants near Eustis, Florida, in 1894.
Images for kids
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A close-up of a Sabal etonia leaf
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A scrub palmetto growing in the Canaveral National Seashore
