The Sabal minor, known as the dwarf palmetto, is a fan palm native to the rich soils of moist forests, ravines, flood plains, and bottomlands from North Carolina to Florida, west to Oklahoma, and Texas. It has gained recognition for its excellent winter hardiness and tropical appearance. 

This small, shrubby plant has an underground trunk, long, smooth, unarmed petioles, and huge, deeply divided palmate leaves, each about 1-5 feet tall and wide. Each leaf consists of narrow, pointed segments shaped like a fan. Typically growing to 6 feet tall and wide, this palm produces yellowish-white flowers in compound panicles, about 6 feet long, that bloom in the summer. Its fruit is a single-seeded, shiny black drupe.