Sabal Minor “ Welfare”

[Meangreen94z]

There was some debate on here whether Plant Delights Nursery had the correct locality for these(Welfare, Texas) or if they even naturally existed that far west at all. I couldn’t find the thread, but a member spent time in the area and found no sign.

Here is the picture from PDN’s website.

I dedicated some time after a roadtrip today into an attempt at locating them. I figured with everything turning red, orange, or brown they might stick out. A few Yucca, Nolina, and Dasylirion species are common to the area.

Due to it being a “ghost town” among a lightly populated area, mapping was poor. Some maps didn’t register it as a location and my paper map and google showed it approximately where “Nelson City” is located.

The true Welfare is a couple miles west of there and consists of a historical marker and an abandoned general store that has been restored.

Pretty much everything  in the area is private land. I even found a road on the map that is now fenced in. I didn’t locate the palms in PDN’s photo but was able to verify Sabal Minor does in fact exist in the area. These were growing in a creek bed, likely from seeds that washed down stream from another population. I intended to try and locate the original population in the photograph but ran out of light. I will be back.

Here is nearby Waring. Another unique town.

[Swolte]

Wonderful log!! I had not heard of those!

Just spoke to the plant-god of Texas (Adam Black) and confirmed they are on private land (cannot disclose where) and they will get DNA from those at some point. 

[Chester B]

Wow thanks for the guided tour.  Looks like an interesting place and I am glad to see you found some of those minor.  Great post!

[Meangreen94z]

Thanks guys.
 

I figured it was on private land. There are a lot of newer homes being built on the hills surrounding the town. I was hopeful the population didn’t somehow get razed.

[teddytn]

I like the idea of unknown/ undocumented populations of palms out there. The flip side like you said @Meangreen94z is how many have been destroyed for development that went unnoticed? Gary Hollar told me they do a lot of phosphorus mining in NC and will just knock down huge areas of native habitat without blinking an eye, a few times he knows of that contained 8-10 foot ancient Sabal minor populations.