Sabal palmetto

cabbage palm

The cabbage palm is the state tree of Florida and South Carolina, which is known as the “Palmetto State.” It grows well in most environmental conditions found throughout the American southeast, north to Zone 8.

After the Spanish explorers arrived in the New World with metallic tools sufficient to extract the apical bud (the “cabbage”) and the heart of the palm, both of these were eaten extensively by settlers and natives alike. Unfortunately, when these parts are taken from a palm stalk, the stalk dies. Since many palms have only one trunk and do not branch, it usually means the death of the entire plant. In the past, palm heart harvesting was done from wild populations of palms, resulting in significant decline of palm populations. Fortunately, commercial operations today create plantations of certain species of palms that usually sprout multiple trunks and produce hearts early on, thereby limiting pressure on wild populations. A lesser-known culinary use of the tree was burning the wood and using the ashes to salt food...yum!

The thin layer of fruit around the seeds can be eaten, but this is said to be an “acquired taste,” which is usually a euphemism for “it tastes bad.” There are a few recorded traditional medicinal uses for cabbage palm fruits, including use as part of a treatment for “grass sickness,” fevers, and headaches. The seeds themselves can also be eaten, but this requires some rigorous processing, as the seeds are quite hard.

Here's a great little video clip of some of the edible uses of the cabbage palm including fruit, seed, and heart preparation:

The tree is quite useful for a number of material applications. Natives used the leaves to thatch the roofs of their houses and now use them for thatching chickee (or tiki) huts as a business endeavor. The trunks of the palms could be used for the poles supporting the roofs and were split to make flooring. Leaves also provided clothing (a little rough, no doubt) for both men and women. Men wore a small loincloth woven out of palm fronds around their waist and women wore shawls made from split fronds.

Because the cabbage palm trunks are resistant to sea-worm damage, they have been used as wharf pilings. The wood does not splinter, so it was a good choice for broom handles; young leaves were used to make the bottom of the broom. The trunk has been cut in cross section and polished to make small tabletops. Natives used petioles of the leaves to make ball sticks.

Fibers extracted from the leaves are used commercially to make brushes, especially for applications that need the bristles to keep stiff in hot water or caustic substances. The softest fibers are extracted from leaves still in the bud, and coarser fibers are extracted from mature leaves. These coarse fibers were likely the ones used to make the rigging on many early small West Indies ships. Cabbage palm fibers have been identified in artifacts of northern tribes, such as the Winnebago and Iroquois; evidence that long-distance trading once occurred amongst American natives.