Sabal 'Birmingham'
Sabal 'Birmingham' is a cultivated hybrid palmetto plant that has demonstrated exceptional hardiness in North American climate zones.
The genus sabal includes several species of New World palms, commonly called "palmettos", which evolved as early as the cretaceous period (more than 66 million years ago) and are native to the subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas.
Commercially-available seedlings of sabal 'Birmingham' derive from a single ancestor which was grown in at the home of Eva Alexander at 900 Graymont Avenue beginning in the 1930s. Undocumented tradition suggests she may have obtained the plant from California. After her death the house was sold to Trinity Baptist Church in 1975 or 1976 and demolished. With the church's permission, and at the suggestion of neighbor Paul Asman, the hardy tree was donated to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. It was transplanted to a spot behind the conservatory by director Gary Gerlach, and survived there until the 1980s.
Various experts have tentatively identified the sabal 'Birmingham' as a hybrid of the common or Carolina palmetto (sabal palmetto) and the Mexican palmetto (Sabal mexicana), but its characteristic slow growth may make it more likely a hybrid of the common palmetto and the dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor ). Other possible identifications include an atypically hardy specimen of sabal palmetto or the native Louisiana variant of sabal minor.
Nurseryman Bob McCartney of Woodlander's Nursery in Aiken, South Carolina obtained seeds from the Birmingham specimen and cultivated seedlings for commercial sale. Those plants have been spread to other nurseries, including Gary Hollar's Gary's Nursery in New Bern, North Carolina and the former Yucca-Do Nursery in Giddings, Texas.
References
- Robertson, Peggy (hand dated June 30, 1975) "Palmetto palm tree moved over mountain." The Birmingham News
- "Rare palm tree is lowered into the ground..." (May 21, 1976) photo caption Birmingham Post-Herald, p. A6
- Meerow, Alan W. (2005) Betrock's Cold Hardy Palms. Cooper City, Florida: Betrock Information Systems ISBN 0962976164
- "Sabal 'Birmingham'" (September 1, 2017) Wikipedia - accessed March 11, 2019
External links
- Sabal 'Birmingham' at Gary's Nursery website