Florida / North America / Pic of the Week / Southeastern USA

“Pic of the Week”, November 17,2017: Palmetto

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The most common palm tree in the United States is the saw palmetto, a hardy plant capable of growing in habitats as diverse as sand dunes to swampy wetlands.  It is a fire-resistant and attractive low maintenance plant commonly used in landscaping, and is slowly growing and capable of living hundreds of years.  

Saw palmetto can be low to the ground, like a bush, or grow into a tree 25 feet tall and 7 feet wide.   What I and others find attractive about the plant are its leaves which earn the plant its name, being edged with small but sharp spines that can tear skin and cloth.  Saw palmetto blooms from April to July, producing white flowers that ripen into a 1-inch ovoid fruit ripens in the fall which resembles dark grapes.

These photos were taken in Orlando.  I found the pattern of shifting light in the leaves as they moved in the breeze to be almost hypnotic.

(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance slideshow)

 

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