The Newest Species of Hardy Palm

As of September 2025, we officially have a newly published hardy palm species, Sabal tamaulipensis, although it’s one that we’ve been growing since 1995, and offering for sale through Plant Delights since 2006. From the first time we laid eyes on it, we knew it constituted a new species, but our and other palm collectors opinions were dismissed by some palm experts, who for decades, dismissed it as merely a disjunct Mexican form of our native Sabal minor.

The discovery of this new palm species was made by Carl Schoenfeld and John Fairey of the former Yucca Do Nursery on an expedition to Tamaulipas, Mexico in the late 1980s. Seed-grown plants were subsequently offered for sale in the 1990 Yucca Do catalog. The original plants from those early expeditions are still growing at the John Fairey Garden in Texas.

In 2022, I was visiting Florida’s Montgomery Botanical Center, and while strolling with director, Dr. Patrick Griffiths, our conversation drifted to the taxonomy of sabal palms, and the need for some good taxonomic research. I jumped for joy when Patrick shared that he had a graduate student that was ready to tackle this very project for her PhD studies at Cornell. Patrick connected us, and in August 2023, we welcomed Ayress Grinage, for several days of palm study here at JLBG. By the time of her visit, she had already run the DNA samples that confirmed Goldman’s 2011 study that showed that Sabal sp. nov. ‘Tamaulipas’ was actually a previously unrecognized sister species to Sabal minor. The main morphological differences are a completely different growing habit, a different flowering stalk, and much larger seed.

The last part of the process was to take herbarium specimens for what was designated as the “type” specimen. This was done from a plant here at JLBG, so the original type specimen now resides in our garden. A sincere thanks to Ayress and everyone involved in finally putting an official name on the mystery palm. We also owe a huge debt to the Yucca Do team, without whom we may still not know that this amazing garden plant even exists. Below, I’ve included excerpts from Carl Schoenfeld’s (Yucca Do) 2002 article on The Palms of Northern Mexico, published in Native Plants Journal.

Excerpts from Palms of Northern Mexico (Schoenfeld)

SABAL MEXICANA

While traveling in Tamaulipas, Mexico in the late 1980s we noticed an isolated colony of Sabal mexicana Mart. growing in a canyon guarded by large 12-m-tall (40-ft) trees that line the visitor’s view of this beautiful valley. Curiously we noticed that this sabal population looked different from the typical sabals seen in the coastal plains. Here, they grew in such great profusion that you could not see the ground. Palms of all sizes are seen simultaneously competing for space, but here, at higher altitude, the sabals stood out like solemn totem poles with only the occasional youngster waiting its turn in the shade of Mexican oaks-mostly Quercus canbyi and Q. rysophylla.

The environment is also different; instead of the deciduous legume forest composed of Acacia Mill. (Fabaceae) thorn scrub we found large evergreen oaks. The stream that divides the valley is surrounded by a rich and diverse understory of shrubs and herbs. What has made these palms look different from one another is subtle and circumstantial. They are the same but they respond differently because of their environments. Fire plays a huge part in the predominance of S. mexicana in the hot dry plains and has no influence in the moist upland valleys. Their rate of growth and reproduction is evidence of these factors. Proceeding up the valley, we came upon another clear running stream but this time it cut through  solid rock folds, the foothills of the larger mountains to our west, and a rich forest. I have been to this location many times but until October 2001 never noticed that one of these mighry S. mexicana was variegated creamy yellow. What a find! Time spent under this tree revealed that it would be pos­sible to collect seeds of which a certain percentage would also be variegated-a fact born out by the numerous varie­gated seedlings sprouting at its base. No matter how many times I return to Mexico there is always something new to discover.

SABAL SP. TAMAULIPAS

A discovery is made!

The limestone ridges and cliffs were covered with Brahea while in the dense forest below stood huge oaks and pines towering to 24+ m (80+ ft). Here at its most northern location, Chamaedorea radicalis makes a stunning sight. This area is higher in altitude (914 m [3,000 ft]) and higher in rainfall than the Sabal mexicana area. While driving through this lush temperate forest we found ancient specimens of Sabal mexi­cana towering into the tree canopy, but every size of Sabal mexicana imaginable was present. The leaves on some of the young plants were gigantic. Some had short trunks, and others had no trunks but were identifiable because of the size of the leaves and length of their petiole.

After carefully looking over the young plants, we spotted shorter-petioled, trunkless sabals scattered about. As the road cut through the forest a few of  these trunk-less sabals were exposed revealing an interesting feature-this Sabal ran horizontally on the ground while similar sized S. mexicana plunged their  tap  roots deep in the ground where the trunk starts its upward march. In another area farther up the road we found one of the trunkless sabals running off of a limestone cliff. It is apparent that this trunkless Sabal runs on the ground while its kin stays put, and forms a permanent root run.

Very old trunkless sabals were found that could be traced back 2.4 m (8 ft) to where the plant originated. These old trunks wear away with time while new roots form at the crown’s base. At first, we thought that these trunkless sabals were seedlings of S. mexicana until years later we found these same trunkless sabals in seed. The narrow flower spike that held the large seeds extended up and beyond the broad blue-green leaves. The seeds were very large and flat like an M&M’s candy but colored a rich mahogany. We went back to inspect the large S. mexicana for seeds and found that their old flowering branches were a many-branched panicle held within the foliage. Their old flowering branch actu­ally hung below the leaf base, quite different from our trunkless sabals. Could these be a different species or are they juvenile S. mexicana flowering prematurely?

The trunkless sabal was numerous in this area and no trunk forming speci­mens could be found. We gathered seeds from this trunkless Sabal and planted them-they germinated quick­ly! We offered them in our catalogue in fall of 1990. We had previously grown S. minor (Jacq.) Persoon that is consid­erably slower to grow and mature than our trunkless Sabal. Affectionately we would refer to our Mexican trunkless Sabal as “Mexican minor.” Reports started coming in that it was proving very adaptable with customers up to zone 7 praising its cold hardiness, with no damage occurring at temperatures near – 18 C (0 °F). European customers reported their success as well! One thing is assured: our “Mexican minor” is here to stay because our original plants are now 2.1 m (7 ft) tall and producing viable seeds. These seeds were planted and were offered in our 2002 catalog. The cycle has gone full course in 15 y but the identity is still a mystery!

Seeds, germination, and care

After 10 y, all species are growing robust­ ly at Peckerwood Garden (Table 1) and several species are producing viable seeds: Chamaedorea microspadix, C. radicalis, Sabal mexicana, and Sabal sp. ‘Tamaulipas’.

Table 1 Characteristics of 10-y-old palms growing at Peckerwood Garden, Hempstead, Texas (USDA hardiness zone Sb)

Species	Height (m) *	Width (m)	Width (leaves) (m)	Length (leaves) (m)	Carried (number)	Trunk
Brahea complex	3.5	3.9	1.5	1.5	28	1.2 m, upright
Brahea moorei	1.5	2.1	1.1	0.8	20	33 cm, creeping
Brahea decumbens	1.5	1.8	0.7	0.6	15	20 cm, creeping
Chamaedorea microspadix	2.4	4.6	0.4	0.8	4	1.8 m, upright
Chamaedorea radicalis	0.3	1.5	0.5	0.7	5	17 cm, upright
Sabal mexicana	3.6	4.6	1.5	1.5	18	1.2 m, upright
Sabal sp . Tamaulipas	2.7	6.6	2.1	1.8	12	No above ground trunk
Conversi on: 1 m = 3.3 ft .

* Conversion: 1 m = 3.3 ft