Cabbage Palms are Florida’s State “Tree”. I put “tree” in quotes here because technically they are different from trees. We all know Cabbage Palms and recognize how the fronds arch upward and outward when alive and how a dead frond snaps off in the wind leaving the dead frond base attached to the palm. What you may not know is that the top of a palm frond stem is concave. When it rains, water flows down the trough of the stem into the base providing water that is absorbed by the palm and also helps cool it in the summer sun.
The broken-off stem and its base were long ago referred to as a “boot jack” by Florida cowboys. They could grab a broken off stem – use it as a handle – and the base of the stem held against a boot heal was used to push their boots off – hence the reference to “Boot Jack”.
Boot jacks -- now referred to simply as “boots” remain on a palm and continue to serve the palm well as a source of water and insulation from summer heat. They are also a home for plants whose seeds or spores (in the case of ferns) fall into the crevice with the water. Two species of ferns – Goldfoot Fern and Shoestring Fern -- are frequently found growing in Cabbage Palms – usually at about 4 feet up, but sometimes much higher. These ferns are occasionally found living side-by-side in Cabbage Palm “boots” In this week’s “Wild Things” learn why these ferns have such unusual names.