Palmetto Tree Or Palm Tree?

Hilton Head

May 13, 2025

Palmetto trees are sabal palms, not like the ones you see lining the beaches and streets of California.

The sabal palmetto has traditionally been a native species in coastal zones from the Florida peninsula up into parts of North Carolina.

The main difference between palmetto and palm trees is their size. Palm trees can reach upwards of 80 feet tall, while the largest palmetto tree will make it to an average of about 30 to 40 feet tall.

Palm trees usually have large leaves, but the leaves of our palmetto trees are more like the shape of a fan.

Neither one of them produces trunks or main stems in layers the way oaks, pines and other woody trees do, and they have no bark.

History in South Carolina

Nothing says South Carolina quite like the Palmetto tree. It’s on our state flag, and just about everything else across the state. South Carolinians unique love for the palmetto tree is a sense of pride that goes way back. There’s no doubting that the palmetto tree is South Carolina’s most iconic image.

The palmetto is celebrated in historical significance dating back to the Revolutionary War. The British assault on Charleston on June 28, 1776 was denied by the thick palmetto walls of Fort Moultrie (called Fort Sullivan at the time). The walls were created by laying down large containment-forms of interlocked palmetto-trunks, then filling up their interior spaces to a considerable height with shoveled sand topped off with stacked sandbags.

British cannonballs simply bounced off the dense mass of the palmetto logs.

At that moment, a legend was born.

The palmetto tree was added to the state seal in 1776, and to the state flag in 1860. The nickname, the Palmetto State, surfaced in the first half of the 19th century.

And, it turns out that South Carolinians are protective over their favorite tree. In 1939, when the palmetto was honored as South Carolina’s official state tree, it was from a real sense of urgency amidst a near crisis.

State Senator Jeff Bates heard a rumor that another state was about to adopt the palmetto as their official tree. There was just no way he was having that happen. Senator Bates was determined to claim the tree as South Carolina’s own and helped to create a near emergency resolution to be able to have South Carolina be the first state to honor the palmetto tree.

From Wikipedia

Sabal palmetto (/ˈseɪbəl/, SAY-bəl), also known as cabbage palm, cabbage palmetto, sabal palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, Garfield's tree, and swamp cabbage, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm. It is native to the Southeast United States, the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, the West Indies, and the Bahamas.

It is the state tree of both Florida and South Carolina.

If You Want More…

Are Palmetto Trees and Palm Trees the Same Thing?

No, palmetto and palm are two different trees with noticeable appearance and use differences. A palmetto is not a palm. However, they belong to the same Arecaceae family and grow in similar habitats.

Identification Tips

First up, let’s look at how their appearances differ.

Palmetto Tree vs. Palm Tree: Appearance

Height

Some palmetto trees grow low to the ground and grow just a few feet tall, whereas others reach a maximum of 30 feet tall. In comparison, palm trees grow taller. They get 80-plus feet. This is probably the most obvious difference between the two.

So how can you tell the difference between a palmetto and a young, short palm?

Trunk

Palm tree trunks grow vertically, towering in the skyline, whereas palmetto trunks grow horizontally. Their main stem grows underground and throws up stems that grow vertically. Neither has bark like a pine or oak tree.

Foliage

Evergreen palmetto leaves fan out and grow much wider than palm leaves. They cluster at the base and spread out like an outstretched hand up 30 inches long. Each leaf has small serrations; hence the common name “saw” palmetto. Palmetto trees grow beneath larger trees in their native environment, so their leaves grow larger to catch filtered sunshine.

Palm leaves, however, dominate the skyline. They don’t need such wide leaves to catch sunlight because they grab it first. Their thin foliage is feather shaped. It forms in a spiral or alternate pattern and reaches approximately 36 inches in length, depending on the species. They grow horizontally from a stalk at the tip of the tree in large fronds.

Flowers

Lance-like, stiff palmetto flowers appear as long or short sticks of yellow that emerge from palmetto and dwarf palmetto trees. Usually, quite drab, palmetto flowers range from scrub palmetto’s tiny white flowers to saw palmetto’s sweetly scented yellow blooms on three feet long stems.

Palm trees produce plumes of soft, white, feathery flowers. Queen palms and desert palms’ flowers are most showy with fragrant fluffy white blooms. Insects and birds love the flowers. Birds take the soft parts to line their nests.

Fruit

Palmetto trees produce small berries up to one inch long that birds and mammals love. The inconspicuous flowers mature into dense clusters of fleshy fruits that ripen to black.

In contrast, palm trees produce tasty dates or coconuts. Queen palm produces bright orange dates, whereas the coconut palm grows coconuts so hard they can injure people.