Looks like a Cabbage Palm (Sabal Palmetto) to me. Here is one In my neighbor's backyard for comparison.

That was my first impression last spring when I started really paying attention to this palm and plants in general (still a youngin' in the ways of gardening/landscaping). But as I've been reading and looking at other Sabals, I have grown less certain. The fronds to me just look a little different. While palmate in frond design, there seems to be a little bit of a graceful arch to the frond and it seems to be much fuller than others I have seen at this height.

Just got back from my morning walk and figured I would take some more pictures with something a bit better than my cellphone (where the first picture came from). Also grabbed another handful of seeds to attempt to germinate. Again. The trunk pictures don't really show much other than how overgrown it is.

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Still, comparing this one to other pictures on the web seems to reinforce that it is indeed a cabbage palm. Which now has me wondering what the other palms are that I keep comparing this one to.

looks like a Sabal palmetto to me. The "graceful arch of the fronds" is a characteristic of sabals because of their costapalmate leaf.

could you possibly be comparing this palm to washingtonia?

I don't know. I will have to take pictures of the 'others' that are on the other side of town and compare them side by side.

Edit: But now that I know that this is indeed a Sabal palmetto, if I can just get the seeds to germinate I will be a happy camper. I've been thinking I wouldn't mind having three of these in my yard and knowing that they're native (and the state 'tree') I don't have to feel guilty about planting them. So... just need to get the seeds germinated and then wait 10-15 years...

This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Sun, Dec 9, 12 at 13:05

Sabal palmetto

+1

I took a picture of one of the many palms planted in a community not far from me, but even as I took the picture I knew it was not the same as the one shown above. So I looked at pictures of the suggested Washingtonia palms, Washingtonia robusta to be exact, and found that this is indeed is what has been planted so prolificly around my area. Now that I know what to look for it would appear that Sabal palmettos are actually fairly uncommon around here. Which gives me all the more reason to get some growing. Thanks for the help everyone.

Great idea! Washingtonias are considered a pest in FL anyways

goodluck with your Sabal growing.

I got a washingtonia in panama city when I went on vaca a loooong time ago and grew it in a pot awhile. then I let it sit al winter and forgot to give it a drop of water and it pulled and died on me..wish I still had that thing it had a few ft of trunk on it

Definitely a Sabal palmetto! Sometimes they are hard to ID if you dont know their characteristics because they look different in sun and shade and the crown of fronds can be huge in certain conditions and small in others.
Sabal palmettos are native and they are actually cheap to buy in Florida too! Since they are slow growing, starting them from seed might be a little frustrating. They take about 10 years before they begin to trunk and the one in that pic is probably a good 20 years old from seed, maybe more. You can buy a nice sized potted one for about 30 dollars in your area, but most people get them as "hurricane cut" palms where they are dug up and the fronds are cut off. When they are sold like that, they take about 2 years to start looking nice again and they never look as nice as the ones that were planted at a young age.
Good luck!
-Alex

I will have to keep searching for one of these $30 Sabals. Every local nursery I have visited so far wants $125 or more for one. But this is partly due to living close to a large retirement-community-for-the-wealthy. Many businesses around here shamelessly admit to charging way too much for their products/services because people living in this community are gullible enough to pay for it. So next time I travel "out of town" I will check with other nurseries.

This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Wed, Dec 19, 12 at 19:23

Wow, Im surprised at how expensive the local nurseries are by you. Florida is known for really cheap plants. Definitely look for them out of town, with a little searching, there should be a good deal somewhere.
-Alex

Sabals are everyhere in Florida. Drive down I-4 or just about anywhere to see forests of them growing wild. They are free in Florida. They pop up everyhere in the lawns that I maintain and I try to yank them out before they get too hard to pull out.

Yeah, I have two sprouts growing in pots. They appeared in my yard last spring, one in an area I was clearing for a bed and the other in the pot where I had my Key Lime. So they're both still very much in the grass stage at the moment. Problem is I don't really know if they are Sabals or not. The seeds that were attached to the sprouts resembled the ones that I have harvested from the above tree, but I've learned that there are a few palms around here that have similar looking seeds. So only time will tell just what palms I have growing in pots.

There's going to be a bare-root tree giveaway next month not too far from me. Looking at the list from last year's tree giveaway, each person who showed up got a Dogwood, a Southern Magnolia, a Red Maple, a Sabal Palm, a Redbud, a Myrtle Leaf Holly and a Long-leaf Pine. And yes, they got one of each. So I have managed to recruit a few family members to go with me and we'll all collect trees and then divvy up the spoils once we get home. So far, I'm the only one interested in the Sabals.

Tropical, even the big box stores around here increase their prices to milk the retirees. If you drive 30 minutes north or south and visit one of those big box stores, you can often get things for 10-20% less than they are here. Problem is, unless I plan on making a big purchase, it's just not worth the gas to drive 30 minutes to save 10-20%. Privately-owned businesses often drive up their prices as much as 50-60%. And the retirees buy from them, thinking somehow they're getting a better product when really they aren't.