''Sabal miamiensis,'' the Miami palmetto, is a rare plant species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found else ...

to Dade County,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, in the vicinity of the city of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Taxonomy

The formal description of this as a new species was published in 1985, based largely on specimens collected in 1901. ''Sabal miamiensis'' is closely related to '' S. etonia, of'' which it is sometimes considered a synonym, or a hybrid of ''S. etonia and S. palmetto.''

Conservation

Only one population is known; it consists of a few individuals in

Crandon Park Crandon Park is an urban park in metropolitan Miami, occupying the northern part of Key Biscayne. It is connected to mainland Miami via the Rickenbacker Causeway. History The land Crandon Park occupies was once part of the largest coconut pl ...

, Miami, Florida. It is seriously threatened and may possibly already be extinct in the wild, although it is still in cultivation as an ornamental. It has been collected in nature only from rocky pinelands in the region, areas which ae now rapidly becoming urbanized.

Description

''Sabal miamiensis'' resembles ''S. etonia'' but has larger fruits ( in diameter) and an

inflorescences An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

with 3 orders of branching instead of 2. Stems are primarily subterranean, leaves no more than 6 per plant, each yellow-green and up to long. Flowers are creamy white, each 5-5.5 mm long. Fruits are black and fleshy.Fox. D.A., & M.G. Andreu. 2012. Sorting out the Florida Sabal Palms. University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, FOR 289
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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15469943 miamiensis Endemic flora of Florida Plants described in 1985