The existence of Sabal miamiensis has some doubts according to Dr. Larry Noblick (Montgomery) from a presentation he did several years ago at a South Florida Palm Society meeting. Its natural range was the coastal region of Miami-Dade County north & south of the Miami River. This corridor is now the Downtown and Brickell areas which have many high rise buildings. It is possible that some Sabal miamiensis may have survived in the few remaining old residential lots. Relying on my foggy memory, the "true" S. miamiensis closely resembles Sabal etonia. The distinguishing feature being is that they have the the most robust size fruit of any Sabal. At least according to its botanical description. Ed - you will have to wait until it fruits. Hope springs eternally, I am one in the camp that believes the Sabal miamiensis has to be surviving somewhere. My bias does not want to accept that this palm has become extinct.
So MooseMan, in Florida, how many years do you think Ed will have to wait to see the fruit on this puppy.
The growth rate I would suspect would be simular to Sabal etonia. How long until fruiting would beyond my limited knowledge. Eric Schmidt could be the appropriate person to answer that question. Hard to assign a time line, in habitat it would probably be a long duration, our natives are very slow on our crappy soil. In cultivation, growth rate is accelerated but not necessarily fruiting. A happy cultivated palm could even take longer, palms sometimes fruit when stressed. Bottom line - I simply don't know.
Hi guys, I'm not Dean, for some relitive growth coparison the first photos in Palmpedia are May 2012, the recent photos are May 2014, very good groth in a pot, Ed http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Sabal_miamiensis
I have seen adult Sabala miamiensis--this palm most closely resembles a palmetto, because it IS just a palmetto. I believe the original describer eventually recanted his claim of it being a valid species...
