Sabal bermudana

Sabal bermudana, the Bermuda palmetto, is the only palm native to Bermuda, and grows wild nowhere else; it is listed as Endangered. A robust, thick-set palmetto, it carries 15–25 stiff, deep green, strongly costapalmate leaves and unusually large, pear-shaped black fruits.

For four centuries it supplied Bermudians with thatch, plaiting material and food. Slow-growing and long-lived, it tolerates salt spray, poor soils and moderate frost.

At a glance

• Native range: Bermuda
• Mature size: usually 5–7 m, occasionally to about 10 m
• Growth rate: very slow, but long-lived
• Light: full sun; tolerates partial shade
• Water: withstands short droughts; water regularly in the first years
• Cold hardiness: about −9 to −10 °C for established plants
• Indoors / outdoors: outdoors, including coastal gardens

Care

It accepts slightly acid to slightly alkaline soils, from sand to heavy clay, and withstands salt spray. It thrives in hot summers. Only dead leaves need removing.

Why Palmpedia: Grown in our greenhouse in Almeirim, Portugal, and supplied in 15 L to 35 L pots.