Palmetto

Palmetto, in botany, a popular name for Sabal Palmetto, the Palmetto palm, a native of the southern United States, especially in Florida. It has an erect stem, 20 to 80 ft. high and deeply cut fan-shaped leaves, 5 to 8 ft. long; the fruit is a black drupe 3 to 2 in. long. The trunks make good piles for wharves, &c., as the wood resists the attacks of borers; the leaves are used for thatching. The palm is grown as a pot-plant in greenhouses.