''Sabal etonia'', commonly known as the scrub palmetto is a species of palm. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in the United States, where it is found in Florida sand pine scrub communities.

Description

''Sabal etonia'' is a fan palm with a solitary stem that is usually subterranean, but is sometimes above ground and can usually grow to tall. Plants usually have four to seven costapalmate leaves, each with 25–50 leaflets. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s, which are branched with a bushy appearance, are shorter than the leaves and bear brownish-black fruit. The fruit are and in diameter.Flora of North America Vol. 22 Page 108 Scrub palmetto, dwarf palmetto ''Sabal etonia'' Swingle ex Nash, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 23: 99. 1896.
/ref>

Taxonomy

''Sabal'' is placed in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Coryphoideae and the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Sabaleae. The species was first described by American botanist Walter Tennyson Swingle in 1896, based on collections made near Eustis, Florida, in 1894. '' Sabal miamiensis'' is treated as either a synonym or a separate species by different authors.

Gallery

File:Sabal etonia leaf.jpg, Detail of the leaf of ''S. etonia''

References

etonia Endemic flora of Florida Plants described in 1896 {{Arecaceae-stub