A palmetto is a type of small palm tree with fan-shaped leaves that grows naturally in the southeastern United States, particularly along the Atlantic coast. The most famous is the sabal palmetto, South Carolina's state tree, which appears on the state flag.

Palmettos thrive in sandy soil near beaches and swamps, growing wild across coastal regions from North Carolina to Florida. Their thick, spongy trunks made them surprisingly useful to early American colonists: during the Revolutionary War, a fort built from palmetto logs on Sullivan's Island near Charleston absorbed British cannonballs without splintering, helping American forces win a crucial victory. The cannonballs just sank into the soft wood instead of shattering it.

Unlike tall, tropical palms with smooth trunks and leaves high overhead, palmettos often grow shorter and bushier, with their fan-shaped fronds spreading out like dozens of green hands. Some palmettos are small enough that they look more like large shrubs than trees.

People sometimes call any small palm with fan-shaped leaves a palmetto, though botanists distinguish between several different species. If you've walked along a beach in the Carolinas or Georgia, you've almost certainly seen these sturdy, wind-resistant plants dotting the landscape.