Description |
A beautiful Central American species and in Mexico it is referred to as Palma de Sombrero, but it is called the Texas Palm here in the states. It also is a very large and robust species growing up to 50'High and have a crown of up to 25'Wide. Sabal mexicana can have from 10-25 fronds living at any one time and has strongly costapalmate fronds that recurve down sharply. Sabal mexicana mirrors its close cousin S. palmetto by growing in varied similar habitats naturally. It occurs in the wild in a wide variety of conditions from dry clay to wet mucky soils in full sun to full shade. Very threatened in Texas where its natural range was near 35,000 acres now currently has a population covering ONLY 32 ACRES due to over harvesting for lumber, development, and farming. This species has not shown susceptibility to lethal yellowing disease which is a plus for its survival. Sabal mexicana is very drought tolerant when established, can tolerant temporary flooding and is cold hardy with frond damage reported at 5 degrees F.
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