South Carolina's State Flag and the Palmetto Tree

The South Carolina State Flag

Asked by the Revolutionary Council of Safety in the fall of 1775 to design a flag for the use of South Carolina troops, Col. William Moultrie chose a blue which matched the color of their uniforms and a crescent which reproduced the silver emblem worn on the front of their caps. The palmetto tree was added later to represent Moultrie's heroic defense of the palmetto-log fort on Sullivan's Island against the attack of the British fleet on June 28, 1776.

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Sabal palmetto, also known as Cabbage Palm, Palmetto, Cabbage Palmetto, and Sabal Palm,

is one of 15 species of palmetto palm (Arecaceae, genus Sabal). It is native to the southeastern United States, Cuba, and the Bahamas. In the United States it occurs throughout Florida and coastal Georgia Coastal South Carolina and North Carolina. Although historically reported from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, this population has long been extirpated. It is the state tree of South Carolina and Florida.

Sabal palmetto grows up to 20 m in height, with a trunk up to 60 cm diameter. It is a fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets. Each leaf is 1.5-2 m long, with 40-60 leaflets up to 80 cm long. The flowers are yellowish-white, 5 mm across, produced in large compound panicles up to 2.5 m long, extending out beyond the leaves. The fruit is a black drupe about 1 cm long containing a single seed. It is extremely salt-tolerant and is often seen growing near the Atlantic Ocean coast, and also frost-tolerant, surviving short periods of temperatures as low as -14 °C.

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