Native palms on the Prairie

[TonyDFW]

Here are some images from the New Audobon Center in Dallas. It showcases the North Texas blackland prairie and includes forest, river, ponds, sloughs (bayous for you coastal Texans)hills and lots of prairie grassland.

The very cutting edge Educational building was built near an old landfill and is composed of mostly recycled material.

This is what S. minor looks like growing in full sun on the N. Texas prairie.

The palmetto preserve is about 2 miles away and in that wooded environment the palms grow under the shade of the hardwood forest and reach 8 feet tall. These specimens have very thick trunks, that are very short. The petioles are very short also.

The water in the ponds on the property are crystal clear. Here is the Trinity river on its way to becoming one of Houston's main water source. We also found another huge forest of Sabal minor nearby at at place called Bruton's bottom.

[TonyDFW]

Here are some images from the New Audobon Center in Dallas. It showcases the North Texas blackland prairie and includes forest, river, ponds, sloughs (bayous for you coastal Texans)hills and lots of prairie grassland.

The very cutting edge Educational building was built near an old landfill and is composed of mostly recycled material.

This is what S. minor looks like growing in full sun on the N. Texas prairie.

The palmetto preserve is about 2 miles away and in that wooded environment the palms grow under the shade of the hardwood forest and reach 8 feet tall. These specimens have very thick trunks, that are very short. The petioles are very short also.

The water in the ponds on the property are crystal clear. Here is the Trinity river on its way to becoming one of Houston's main water source. We also found another huge forest of Sabal minor nearby at at place called Bruton's bottom.

[TonyDFW]

The trinity river

CrawDaddy

[TonyDFW]

[FRITO]

thanks for the photos Tony. that river doesnt look great for a water source.

the minors are pretty compact with short petioles.

[Ken Johnson]

That must be pretty far North for native palms. What Lat. is that?

I bet the ones in the woods would show a great example of how different the same palm can look in different growing conditions!

[TonyDFW]

This species of palm grows further north and east into Oklahoma.

The Dallas palms are growing at 32 degrees latitude.

Same as San Diego and Charleston, SC.

[DoomsDave]

This species of palm grows further north and east into Oklahoma.

The Dallas palms are growing at 32 degrees latitude.

Same as San Diego and Charleston, SC.

But in the middle of the mighty continental land mass . . .

[PricklyPearSATX]

This species of palm grows further north and east into Oklahoma.

The Dallas palms are growing at 32 degrees latitude.

Same as San Diego and Charleston, SC.

I think they look like yuccas.

It would be easy for a farmer to simply mow them over!!

I've seen a few pictures of the sabal minors in Kendall County (about 30 miles from San Antonio).

The Kendall County sabal minors look alot like the Oklahoma sabal minors. They are the furthest west of the Sabal Minors.

Kendall County is zone 8b-29.5 degrees north. Rainfall is only 30 inches per year.

My hunch is the Oklahomas and Kendall's look similar because they have an adaptation to droughty conditions.

Here is a quote from Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine describing the local (Kendall) sabal minors:

http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2006/jan/ed_6/

"The final stretch of trail down to the creek winds beneath ancient oaks laden with wisps of Spanish moss. Centuries-old cypress trees rise up from the water's edge, joined by pecan, walnut, sycamore, cedar elm, persimmon and gum bumelia to form a forest canopy that shelters a lush understory of dwarf palmettos, frostweed, switchgrass, maidenhair ferns and columbine. Spatter-dock, a pond lily, floats on the surface of long, smooth pools of water.

It's unusual to see bog-loving palmettos (Sabal minor) this far west in Texas. But then there are many interesting features to appreciate about Honey Creek. Consider, for example, the remarkable outcroppings of black basalt near the confluence of Honey Creek and the Guadalupe River, formed when molten rock squeezed into vertical cracks in the surrounding limestone."

[PricklyPearSATX]

Ramblings aren't very descriptive.

Here's a picture of the San Antonio area Sabal Minors. (Copied it from Plant's Delight Catalog.)

Excerpts from Catalog :

Sabal minor 'Bear Creek' -Height 48 inches

Westernmost population of Sabal minor Kendall County, TX, near the famed town of Luckenbach (north of San Antonio). Along an oft-flooding creek below giant bald cypress, which were nestled into a steep valley below the dry desert. The palm leaflets seemed a bit narrower and the leaves more costapalmate (folding in the center) than other Sabal minor. Additionally, several of the plants had more than 1' of aboveground trunk. The 7' tall, very upright flower spikes were much taller than what I usually see in the east.

http://plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page75.html

[Bob Johnson]

I really enjoyed this thread. I always like to see pics of palms in habitat, and it is a special treat to see US palms at the limits of their range such as these Sabal minors.

I also clicked through to see the Bear Creek specimens - those upright fruit stalks are incredible!

Thanks for sharing.