STORY BEHIND THE ART OF ELISA BALDWIN

Wildly Exquisite: Florida’s Native Plants

Cabbage Palm

Sabal palmetto

Sabal palmetto is a wonderfully hardy and adaptable native tree palm growing in the Coastal Plains region of the Southeast. Extremely salt- and wind-tolerant, it is at home in coastal sands and tidal flats, as well as along urban streets and in private gardens. The species is important to natural ecosystems, providing habitat to birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, and even other plants. Its fruit is eaten by wildlife and the large leaf buds were once cut for a delicacy known as ‘swamp cabbage,’ hence the tree’s common name, cabbage palm. This practice is now discouraged since it kills the tree. Sabal palmetto became Florida’s official state tree in 1953, a well-deserved choice for it truly captures a wildly exquisite sense of place.

I found several Sabal palmettos at the Mobile Botanical Gardens and was particularly attracted to the palm fronds which can grow to 6’ long and 3’ wide. I drew the leaf in profile in order to show the distinctive arching costa, or midrib, that extends into the leaf blade causing it to curve. The long, tapering, pinnately compound leaflets move with the slightest breeze and it was a challenge to capture this movement. Fortunately, I live just a few minutes away from the Gardens and returned many times to study the plant and make detailed graphite sketches before attempting it in colored pencil.

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