Pal·met·to n.  Bot. A name given to palms of several genera and species growing in the West Indies and the Southern United States.  In the United States, the name is applied especially to the Chamærops Palmetto, or Sabal Palmetto, the cabbage tree of Florida and the Carolinas.  See Cabbage tree, under Cabbage.
 Royal palmetto, the West Indian Sabal umbraculifera, the trunk of which, when hollowed, is used for water pipes, etc. The leaves are used for thatching, and for making hats, ropes, etc.
 Saw palmetto, Sabal serrulata, a native of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.  The nearly impassable jungle which it forms is called palmetto scrub.
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 Cab·bage n.  Bot.
 1. An esculent vegetable of many varieties, derived from the wild Brassica oleracea of Europe.  The common cabbage has a compact head of leaves.  The cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc., are sometimes classed as cabbages.
 2. The terminal bud of certain palm trees, used, like, cabbage, for food. See Cabbage tree, below.
 3. The cabbage palmetto. See below.
 Cabbage aphis Zoöl., a green plant-louse (Aphis brassicæ) which lives upon the leaves of the cabbage.
 Cabbage beetle Zoöl., a small, striped flea-beetle (Phyllotreta vittata) which lives, in the larval state, on the roots, and when adult, on the leaves, of cabbage and other cruciferous plants.
 Cabbage fly Zoöl., a small two-winged fly (Anthomyia brassicæ), which feeds, in the larval or maggot state, on the roots of the cabbage, often doing much damage to the crop.
 Cabbage head, the compact head formed by the leaves of a cabbage; -- contemptuously or humorously, and colloquially, a very stupid and silly person; a numskull.
 Cabbage palmetto, a species of palm tree (Sabal Palmetto) found along the coast from North Carolina to Florida.
 Cabbage rose Bot., a species of rose (Rosa centifolia) having large and heavy blossoms.
 Cabbage tree, Cabbage palm, a name given to palms having a terminal bud called a cabbage, as the Sabal Palmetto of the United States, and the Euterpe oleracea and Oreodoxa oleracea of the West Indies.
 Sea cabbage.Bot. (a) Sea kale (b). The original Plant (Brassica oleracea), from which the cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc., have been derived by cultivation.
 Thousand-headed cabbage. See Brussels sprouts.
 Sabal palmetto
      n : low-growing fan-leaved palm of coastal southern United
          States having edible leaf buds [syn: cabbage palmetto,
          cabbage palm]