Maximum documentable age for Sabal palmetto

[Jono Miller]

I'm working on a Master's degree dealing with the natural and cultural history of cabbage palms in the Florida Studies Program at USF, and I'm sometimes asked: How long can a cabbage palm live? And that is not easy to answer.

It may be the state tree for 22 million people (South Carolina and Florida combined) but it is nobody seems to know how long they can live. The oft-observed truism that they lack annular growth rings is the first hurdle, and I'm told they are not old enough for carbon dating. If that's incorrect, please let me know.

If the trees cannot be dated retroactively, then the only means would be to have a continuous record through time of a known individual.

There are two possible answers -- one a definitive date for the complete life span and the other an "at least" minimum age for trees that were noticed sometime after germination.

Regarding the complete life span question, Kyle Brown Jr. has several trees he grew from seed planted in 1970 and Scott Zona and Katherine Maidman reported on one that had been planted at Fairchild Tropical Gardens 42 years earlier. Is it possible that Fairchild specimen is the oldest cabbage palm with a known germination date??

"At least" (minimum age) Sabal palms include a now dead palm that was first marked by a surveyor in 1860 and re-discovered in a re-survey by George Chappy Young in 1999. http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/6729/

Other survey witness cabbage palms are said to still be alive and growing, but it is not clear any predate 1860.

According to Nehrling and others, the cabbage palms lining Palmetto Avenue on Fort George Island are said to have been planted by slaves, but this tantalizing possibility has been vexed by two problems: allegations that the present palms are subsequent re-plants and a fairly wide discrepancy in the purported planting dates.

In addition to simply being curious, and studious, I'm interested in the answer/s because people tend to discount cabbage palms and part of their dismissive regard seems to derive from an assumption that they are unlikely to live more than 80 years. The result is people swooning over the thick "century old" Live Oak that may only be 50 years old, while ignoring (or pushing over) a nearby cabbage palm that I suspect could be 200 or more years old.

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated and fully credited.

Jono Miller

[Zeeth]

I'm working on a Master's degree dealing with the natural and cultural history of cabbage palms in the Florida Studies Program at USF, and I'm sometimes asked: How long can a cabbage palm live? And that is not easy to answer.

It may be the state tree for 22 million people (South Carolina and Florida combined) but it is nobody seems to know how long they can live. The oft-observed truism that they lack annular growth rings is the first hurdle, and I'm told they are not old enough for carbon dating. If that's incorrect, please let me know.

If the trees cannot be dated retroactively, then the only means would be to have a continuous record through time of a known individual.

There are two possible answers -- one a definitive date for the complete life span and the other an "at least" minimum age for trees that were noticed sometime after germination.

Regarding the complete life span question, Kyle Brown Jr. has several trees he grew from seed planted in 1970 and Scott Zona and Katherine Maidman reported on one that had been planted at Fairchild Tropical Gardens 42 years earlier. Is it possible that Fairchild specimen is the oldest cabbage palm with a known germination date??

"At least" (minimum age) Sabal palms include a now dead palm that was first marked by a surveyor in 1860 and re-discovered in a re-survey by George Chappy Young in 1999. http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/6729/

Other survey witness cabbage palms are said to still be alive and growing, but it is not clear any predate 1860.

According to Nehrling and others, the cabbage palms lining Palmetto Avenue on Fort George Island are said to have been planted by slaves, but this tantalizing possibility has been vexed by two problems: allegations that the present palms are subsequent re-plants and a fairly wide discrepancy in the purported planting dates.

In addition to simply being curious, and studious, I'm interested in the answer/s because people tend to discount cabbage palms and part of their dismissive regard seems to derive from an assumption that they are unlikely to live more than 80 years. The result is people swooning over the thick "century old" Live Oak that may only be 50 years old, while ignoring (or pushing over) a nearby cabbage palm that I suspect could be 200 or more years old.

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated and fully credited.

Jono Miller

Well, since these are slow growing palms, I think that it follows that the taller they are, the older. In Highlands Hammock State Park, there was a 90 foot tall Sabal that was recently struck by lightning, but there are likely more in the area that are as tall. When at maximum growing efficiency, they hit maybe 1ft of trunk per year, and take 10-20 years to start trunking, so the minimum age is 100, but more often than not they grow much slower, so it could be 300+ years old. More experienced people will be able to tell you more than I though, so the floor is open for them to speak

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

I can not speak for S. palmetto in warmer climates but here in North Carolina we have some old ones. Bald Head Island, N.C. has muti thousands that grow native there. Many are huge tall ones. Nearby Wilmington has tons of older ones. Sixty miles north, as the crow flies, at Beaufort, N.C. there is at least one yard with three perfect, un-blimished, S. palmetto's that the owner says her dad planted about 75 years ago from Florida collected seed ( the "about" is my word. She knew the exact years but I forgot). They look to be in their mid life with no signs of slowing down or dying anytime in the forseeable future. New Bern, N.C. has at least one as tall as the two story house it grows beside ( see link http://www.garysnursery.com/HardyPalms.html ). There are muti thousands of others here but most of them have been planted as trunked transplants from Florida. My best guess is even this far north they can go a minimum of 100 years. Just think what they can do under faster growing and warmer conditions.