I thought I saw this species for the first time in Sonora Mexico, along the Río Cuchujaqui, in the Alamos region. A blueish beauty with large fronts and form enough to turn your eyes inside out. They can grow to 30+ feet tall though there seems to be a north-south and elevational clinal variation in overall plant size with plants of the northern populations larger than those to the south. There is also geographic variation in fruit size, with the northernmost populations bearing the largest fruits, while plants near Ures and along the coast bear the smallest fruits. Occasionally cultivated in Sonora and Arizona, Sabal uresana is recommended as a landscape tree for large areas. It is not damaged by freezing temperatures at least as far north as Tucson which gets sometimes into the low 20s and high teens F. I realized later on that there were some here in town in various botanical gardens and at the University of Arizona in two locales. Before I fell in love with palms I was just overlooking them maybe passing them off as the more common cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto) though its blueish foliage should have been a dead givaway.
Palma blanca is important to the folk economies of Sonora and Chihuahua. Newly-emerging, unexpanded leaves called cojoyos, primarily of Sabal, are highly valued for weaving twilled and coiled baskets, mats, rope, and other items, and people travel considerable distances to harvest them. Sabal is the only Sonoran palm employed in hat-making. In the desert region near Ures the trunks of S. uresana have been regularly used to build corrals and as crossbeams (vigas) for houses. Traditionally only the trunks of dead trees were used to make corrals, but in recent years living trees have been cut as well, contrary to the policy of the local forestry office. Farther east and southward in the mountains palm logs are occasionally used in construction and as benches, and are also hollowed out to make planters. The sugary mesocarp of the ripe, black fruit of S. uresana, locally called taco, is eaten fresh or cooked in northeastern and east-central Sonora but is considered unpalatable in the desert area near Ures. Guarijio ate the palm heart (corazón), apparently of Sabal and perhaps Brahea aculeata, a practice which effectively kills the palm. Palm hearts are apparently no longer harvested in Sonora.The Sabal fibers which hang between the leaflets have been used to weave saddle blankets. Orioles, including Hooded and Streaked-back, make nests from these fibers. These nests are sometimes used as sponges. Sabal petioles are employed to make racks for aging cheeses, stirring sticks, and broom handles.
