cabbage palm

American  

noun

1. any of several palms, especially those of the genus Euterpe, having terminal leaf buds that are eaten as a vegetable or in salads.

2. cabbage tree.

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cabbage palm British  

noun

1. a West Indian palm, Roystonea (or Oreodoxa ) oleracea, whose leaf buds are eaten like cabbage

2. a similar Brazilian palm, Euterpe oleracea

3. an Australian palm tree, Livistona australis

4. any of several plants of the genus Cordyline , grown as ornamentals: family Agavaceae

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Etymology

Origin of cabbage palm

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

On the screened front porch, a round table is supported by the base of a cabbage palm.

From Washington Post • Nov. 12, 2015

We met with Zambos carrying on their shoulders the cylinders of palmetto, improperly called the cabbage palm, three feet long and five to six feet thick.

From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3 by Humboldt, Alexander von

At the gate stood as sentinel a cabbage palm a hundred feet high; on the lawn mangoes, oranges, papaws, and bread-fruit trees, strange to look at, but luxuriantly shady.

From The English in the West Indies or, The Bow of Ulysses by Froude, James Anthony

The leaves used came from what is commonly known as the dwarf or cabbage palm.

From Pioneering in Cuba A Narrative of the Settlement of La Gloria, the First American Colony in Cuba, and the Early Experiences of the Pioneers by Adams, James Meade

The cabbage palm grows everywhere, spontaneously, and is used both for food and making brooms.

From De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera by MacNutt, Francis Augustus