6 Fun Facts About the Dwarf Palmetto

February 2020
Written By: 
Grand Strand Magazine Staff
Photographs by: 
Grand Strand Magazine Staff

A shrub palm valued for its hardiness the dwarf palmetto adds a tropical flair to the landscape

- Also called bush palmetto, swamp palmetto and bluestem palmetto.

- Root juice has been crushed and rubbed into sore eyes as a counterirritant. Leaves have been used to make roofs, fans and baskets.

- Short-trunked with most (if not all) of its trunk below ground. Trunk is usually only visible when grown in standing water.

- Native to the deep southeast and south-central United States and northeastern Mexico.

- Evergreen foliage that is unique and attractive in winter.

- One of the most frost and cold tolerant of North American palms. Also quite hardy through droughts, though leaves may brown.

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