Hi, good guess. It does have that general appearance. But beautyberry's leaves are opposite, shaped differently. I have a couple of 'em in my yard.

Not only are they non-aggressive, but they will retreat quickly if approached. I always have trouble catching their relatives, the Banded and Midland W.S. in places I have worked. Difficult to chase down on land, almost impossible if they get back in the water.

I was thinking M. virginiana, but seemed too obvious, so thought it must be something else. The second picture, with its semi-deciduous look, looks just like mine, so, it might be just that. If it is virginiana and has not flowered, they really are missing something delightful in fragrance. Its small flowers even more aromatic than M.grandiflora. It is much underutilized in the North where Saucers and Star Mags dominate. Apparently, there are northern and southern varieties of the same virginiana species. The northern ones are more deciduous, the southern ones more semi-evergreen. This post was edited by njoasis on Thu, Jan 1, 15 at 18:57

as far as i'm concerned Sabal minor is not a variety, or subset, but a species of the genus Sabal. I've been in florida most of my life and have seen many, many, natural stands of dwarf palmettos, that were there for hundreds of years, and the palms/palmettos I am trying to ID do not look those. mine look like a cross between a dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) and a cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto), which is why i think it is a variety called Sabal minor var. louisiana. I don’t believe they are dwarf palmettos and here are some reasons why. Sabal minor … dwarf palmetto … has a solitary subterranean stem (rarely above ground to 2 m) and 4–10 dark green leaves with a weak costa …. Leaf segments are only joined a short distance near the base and have no filamentous fibers… http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr357 The particular palms I am trying to ID have very prominent, above ground, stems/trunks … are NOT joined a short distance from the base and DO have filamentous fibers. dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) … has a trunk that is either very short or below the ground. … There are usually no more than a half dozen leaves on a single plant. They differ from the leaves of other native dwarf palms by having a split 'V' right in the middle. … The usual size is 4 to 5 feet high and wide and the growth rate is slow. http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/trees/hgic1019.html The particular palms I am trying to ID have dozens of leaves on a single plant, do not have a split V in the middle, and are taller than 4 to 5 feet. S. minors’ trunks ‘rarely’ emerge, but are mostly subterranean … occasionally emerge, but grow along the ground. .. according to two texts I have sitting on my desk - trees, shrubs, and woody vines of northern florida and adjacent georgia and alabama, godfrey and wooten and the guide to the vascular plants of florida, wunderlin and hansen. the particular palms I am trying to ID grows too fast having trunks exposed too early in life. I don’t believe they are dwarf palmettos (Sabal minor).