The fan-shaped palms growing in the understory here are dwarf palmetto, and they are genuinely palms — one of only a handful of palm species native to the United States, and among the most cold-hardy in the world. They grow with almost no visible trunk, holding their stem underground, which is how a tropical-looking plant survives hard freezes this far north. A bottomland forest of oak and cypress with a palmetto floor is a distinctly Gulf Coast combination, and it runs from here into Louisiana.
Getting there
30.0500, -95.2100
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
