Plants 4 Bees :: Arecaceae :: Photo_Sabal_palmetto_flowers_CRW

Sabal palmetto flowers

Scientific name	:	Sabal palmetto
Synonyms	:	Corypha palmetto, Inodes schwarzii, Sabal jamesiana, Sabal viatoris, and Sabal parviflora
Origin	:	North Carolina to Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas
Description	:	Cabbage palm is quite a variable palm in both general appearance (especially as it matures) and color. Young plants look very little like a tree, but they eventually develops a trunk that can, in extreme cases, reach nearly 100 feet in height. The 15 to 30 leaves are the palmate type with a stalk that extends into the leaf to form a prominent midrib. The 50-95 leaf segments are joined for about a third of their length, and beyond this point have numerous fibers along their edges. As the trunk grows, older leaves drop away leaving the leaf base, which generally also eventually falls away leaving the plant crowned with the “umbrella of leaves” that many of us expect in palms. In large plants the leaves are often 6 ft across, often wider than long, and are attached to the plant by stiff stalks that may be as long as 7 ft in length. At first the flowers are encased in a structure that reminds me of the wrapping of a cigar. This encasement eventually loosens and the profusely flowered inflorescence (grouping of flowers) unfurls, often reaching a length that is equal to that of the leaves. It is highly branched and quite spectacular and has been likened to an ostrich plume. The individual whitish fragrant flowers are small, about 0.19 inches long and have three petals, three sepals and 6 stamens. The fruits are globular (generally spherical), black, and about 0.3 to 0.55 inches in diameter.
Distribution	:	In addition to the U. S. distribution, S. palmetto is found in the Bahamas and Western Cuba. The species grows in a wide variety of habitats where the water table is fairly close to the surface: fresh and saltwater wetlands, wet hammocks , along rivers, seasonally wet prairies, maritime forests and costal plains. In Florida and along the Gulf States the species is common in the transition zone between the active flood plains and the uplands.
Blooming period	:	There is some disagreement about the blooming period of the species. In her treatise on the honey plants of southern Florida, Morton[9] indicates during warm wet springs the species begins to bloom in April, otherwise blooming occurs in May and June. The U.S.D.A. Plants website[14] states that the species blooms during June and July. Lovell[8] states that in Southern Florida it blooms about the first of July, but in northern portions of the state it doesn’t bloom until August. Pellett agrees with this assessment. Sanford[12] who apparently presents generalized data for the state of Florida, indicates that if summer rains do not interfere with foraging, bees usually gather nectar from the species in June and July, yet the graphic he provides depicting the blooming period shows the start of the blooming period, at least in some years, is a little before mid May and ends in mid July, with the major portion of the bloom occurring in June. Arnold[1] provides a blooming date of June. Lovell[7] reports the blooming period in the Fort Myers area as June 1 to October 15. To this I add the dates of the photos taken of Sabal palmetto in bloom at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden located near Miami.
Importance	:	Sanford[12] included cabbage palm among his list of Florida’s major honey plants. Crane et al. also rate the species as N1 (a major honey source) based primarily on an article by Lovell[7]. Lovell[8] and Pellett[10] both report that honey production from the species is very sensitive to the weather. Both too much dampness and too much dryness and heat are injurious to the flowers. As a result they report that the species yields well about one year in three. To this Morton[9] adds that while it produces well on wet land, this is not the case when the trees are growing in dry areas.
Honey potential	:	Lovell[7] reports an average surplus in the Daytona area of 30 lbs with strong hives sometimes storing 100 lbs. He also provides a report from the Fort Myers area indicating surpluses of up to 40 lbs. Lovell[8] reports 65 colonies gathering 3500 lbs of extracted honey in two weeks from an apiary on the St. Lucie River.
Honey	:	The honey is said to be mild and light in color, making it a good blending honey. A. I and E. R Root[11] rank it 5th or 6th in quality relative to other Florida honey plants. It is often considered to be inferior to that of saw palmetto. John Lovell [8].had this to say about the honey, “The honey is nearly white or light amber and has a characteristic aroma, which does not resemble that of scrub palmetto. It is very thin and in warm weather runs almost like water; and even in cold weather it never thickens. The flavor is extremely mild, but is inferior to that of scrub palmetto.” In the area of Hawks Park, Florida (now Edgewater, a little south of Daytona Beach), cabbage palmetto blooms at the same time as black mangrove and the two honeys are collected together. Further south, cabbage palm honey can be collected in a pure state. The mixed honey from the Edgewater area must be quite a good product, for L. L. Langstroth himself had this to say about it in a letter to a colleague who had supplied a sample to him[11]. “Friend Muth: I have delayed giving you my opinion of that Florida palmetto honey till I got the verdict of others as to its merits. In color it is unexceptional and its flavor is very pleasant. I am not sure but the majority of consumers will consider it the equal if not the superior of white clover. Our southern friends are to be congratulated on being able to supply our market with such a choice article. L. L. Langstroth” The honey from cabbage palmetto is apparently quite thin and subject to fermentation. The following portion of a letter from L.K. Smith[13] describes the fermentation potential of the honey better than can I. “Cabbage palmetto honey, sealed or unsealed, will foam as though fermentation were in progress; that taken from the combs unsealed will ferment enough to deprive it of all the honey flavor, but the sealed only foams. Thin and acrid, and amber in color, it will flow bubbling from the cells behind the knife, and it is not a rare thing to see gas bubbles under the cappings of the sealed cells. Whether the colonies are strong or weak, it is always the same when the bees work the cabbage trees, as the common palm tree of Florida is called.” Lovell[8] ,however, states that the bubbles disappear after standing a few days. Morton[9] adds that the caps might even be blown out in uncapped honey. Arnold[1] comments that it tends to ferment after extraction unless heated immediately, but that the honey makes acceptable winter stores. White[15], on the basis of the average of two samples, graded the honey as the light half of extra light amber, equivalent to a Pfund of 34-42, and also provided the sugar content as follows (again the average of two samples): Glucose 31.18 (medium) Fructose 37.53% (medium) Sucrose 0.58% (low) Maltose 5.16% Higher sugars 0.79%
Pollen	:	While little mention is made of the pollen from cabbage palmetto, bees do collect pollen from it[3].
Additional information	:	The cabbage palmetto gets its name from the cabbage-like terminal bud which is boiled and eaten like cabbage. Harvesting the bud, however, kills the tree. The species is the Florida State Tree and is considered an excellent ornamental. The species blooms very early in its life when it is only a few feet in height (see photo). This is something that appears not to be appreciated by those who have written about the species as a honey plant in the past.
Reference	:	1. Arnold, L. E. . 1954. Some honey plants of Florida. University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations Bulletin 548. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 2. Crane, E., P. Walker and R. Day. 1984. Directory of Important World Honey Sources. International Bee Research Association. London. 3. Dennis, C. 1983. Nectar and Pollen Producing Plants of Alabama--A Guide for Beekeepers. ANR Circular 351. Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, Auburn University. Auburn, AL. 4. Henderson, A, G. Galeano and R. Bernal. 1995. Field guide to the Palms of the Americas. Prinston University Press. Princeton, NJ. 5. Jones, D. L. 1995. Palms Throughout the World. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. 6. Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium Staff. 1976. Hortus Third. A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. New York. 7. Lovell, H. B. 1965. Lets Talk About Honey Plants. Gleanings in Bee Culture. 93:483-484. 8. Lovell, J. 1926. Honey Plants of North America. A. I. Root Co. Medina, OH. 9. Morton, J. A. 1964. Honeybee plants of South Florida. Proceedings, Florida State Horicultural Society 77:415-436. 10. Pellett, F. C. 1978. American Honey Plants. Dadant and Sons, Hamilton, IL. 11. Root, A. I. and E. R. Root. 1920. The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture. The A. I. Root Co. Medina, Ohio. 12. Sanford, M. T. 1988. Florida Bee Botany Florida Cooperative Extension Service/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Circular 686. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 13. Smith, L. K. 1909. Cabbage palmetto yields honey that sours quickly; saw palmetto honey excellent. Gleanings in Bee Culture 37:39. 14. USDA, NRCS. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA 15. White, J. W., M. L. Riethof, M. H. Subers and I. Kushnir. 1962. Composition of American Honeys. U. S. D. A. Technical Bulletin No. 1261. U. S. Government Printing Office. Washington, D. C.