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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Sabal mauritiiformis; photograph (c) Julien Renoult, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Julien Renoult, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-02-19

Sabal mauritiiformis (H.Karst.) Griseb. & H.Wendl.

Trinidad palm; Green botan

Arecaceae · Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +9

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Sabal mauritiiformis, photograph (c) Nicolás Baresch Uribe, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sabal mauritiiformis, photograph (c) Erick Vélez Sánchez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sabal mauritiiformis, photograph (c) Erick Vélez Sánchez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sabal mauritiiformis, photograph (c) William Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sabal mauritiiformis, photograph (c) Nicolás Baresch Uribe, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sabal mauritiiformis, photograph (c) Nicolás Baresch Uribe, some rights reserved (CC BY) 59 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
21.3°C
Record low 19.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,658mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Sabal mauritiiformis, commonly known as the Savannah palm, is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It grows in Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz), Central America, Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sabal mauritiiformis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Sabal

Sabal is a genus of New World palms. Currently, there are 17 recognized species of Sabal, including one hybrid species.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sabal", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,159 mm of 1,586 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 1.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,586 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,159 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 216 mm, driest month January at 24 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,237 mm to 2,342 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,658 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,586 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 21.3 °C, the absolute minimum 19.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 22.3 °C in January and December (across the grid cells of the range 18.6 °C to 23.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.7 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 21.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +57 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Sabal mauritiiformis through the yearWarmest month March, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest months January and December, mean nightly low 22.3 °C; 1,586 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°35°40°36.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER19.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 28–36RH 62–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 173 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C30 / 26–3231 / 26–3332 / 28–3331 / 29–3330 / 29–3430 / 28–3230 / 28–3230 / 28–3229 / 28–3129 / 27–3029 / 27–3029 / 26–30
Night °C22 / 19–2423 / 19–2423 / 20–2524 / 22–2524 / 22–2524 / 23–2523 / 22–2523 / 22–2523 / 22–2523 / 22–2423 / 20–2422 / 19–24
Rain mm24 / 13–11632 / 18–8546 / 25–84107 / 42–189189 / 107–265178 / 129–273167 / 117–276197 / 142–302216 / 163–315212 / 171–312148 / 106–24070 / 46–147
DLI33 / 24–3635 / 29–3836 / 35–3935 / 31–4032 / 29–3932 / 30–3634 / 31–3833 / 30–3732 / 29–3429 / 27–3228 / 25–3030 / 23–32
RH %63 / 58–6862 / 56–6762 / 56–6665 / 57–7068 / 58–7268 / 63–7168 / 62–7068 / 63–7169 / 65–7169 / 65–7268 / 64–7267 / 61–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 173 grid cells holding the 434 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1633:2072 (8.325, -76.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 19.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 21.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 173 distinct grid cells holding 434 of the 434 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1633:2072 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 8.50_-76.250, lapse-corrected +57 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 140 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Colombia · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker9.021, -75.474 · in the densest population, 334 records (67% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 495 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 434 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 302 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 48 km away. 8 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 61 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 495 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sabal mauritiiformis, photograph 1did not loadSabal mauritiiformis, photograph 2did not loadSabal mauritiiformis, photograph 3did not loadSabal mauritiiformis, photograph 4did not loadSabal mauritiiformis, photograph 5did not loadSabal mauritiiformis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Nicolás Baresch Uribe, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Erick Vélez Sánchez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) William Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Maclura tinctoria Maclura tinctoria Old fustic Photo: CC BY, River AhlquistChomelia spinosa Chomelia spinosa Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Jeaustin BrenesSapium glandulosum Sapium glandulosum Gumtree Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreSterculia apetala Sterculia apetala Panama tree Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezMyroxylon balsamum Myroxylon balsamum Balsam of Tolu Photo: CC BY, DouglasTillandsia flexuosa Tillandsia flexuosa Twisted airplant Photo: CC BY, Ben Machado

Other Sabal 13 in the reference

Sabal bermudana Sabal bermudana Bermuda palmetto Photo: CC0, author not statedSabal × brazoriensis Sabal × brazoriensis Arecaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Douglas GoldmanSabal causiarum Sabal causiarum Puerto Rican hat palm Photo: CC BY, fmunozSabal domingensis Sabal domingensis Hispaniola palmetto Photo: CC BY, Anthony BatistaSabal etonia Sabal etonia Scrub palmetto Photo: CC0, author not statedSabal maritima Sabal maritima Bull thatch Photo: CC0, author not statedSabal mexicana Sabal mexicana Rio Grande palmetto Photo: CC0, author not statedSabal minor Sabal minor Dwarf palmetto Photo: CC BY, Blake BringhurstSabal palmetto Sabal palmetto Cabbage palm Photo: CC BY, William J. DemlSabal pumos Sabal pumos Royal palmetto Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezSabal rosei Sabal rosei Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Gustavo ZaRoSabal uresana Sabal uresana Sonoran Palmetto Photo: CC BY, Sue Carnahan all 14 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Sabal allenii; Sabal coerulescens; Sabal glaucescens; Sabal morrisiana; Sabal nematoclada and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
(H.Karst.) Griseb. & H.Wendl.
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast +8
Wild records
495 in range · 302 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 25 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (25 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 8.50_-76.250, lapse-corrected +57 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 55 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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