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Serenoa repens: Saw Palmetto

Vânia Pereira, Mica McMillan, Wagner Vendrame, and Kara McCoy

Introduction

This publication is intended for anyone interested in identifying and utilizing this Florida native palm in their landscape. Serenoa repens is native to the Southeastern United States and found mostly in Florida coastal woodland locations. In Florida, it is native to pinelands and coastal scrub communities. Most often referred to as saw palmetto, this slow-growing, small palm only reaches 3 to 6 feet in height. Its waxy leaves vary in color and can be light to dark green or silver blue-green. The stiff leaves are folded slightly and divided deeply into several dozen segments that split at the tip. Saw palmetto is essentially trunkless and will have 12 to 30 leaves in total. It has white flowers that bear blue-black fruit. This small palm forms as a ground cover in pinelands along the Southern Coastal Plain. The plants are best established from containers and can be difficult to transplant from the field. Known for its medicinal benefits, the fruits of the saw palmetto are sold in health food stores across the United States and harvested by pharmaceutical companies for medicinal purposes.  

Shrub growing out of grass-covered ground that appears as though several wide-fanned palm fronds grow directly out of the soil, and at the plant's center is some sort of long, red, stem-like plant structure with stems of tiny flower clusters attached.
Figure 1. Green Serenoa repens with inflorescence.  
Credit: Karen Williams, UF/IFAS

General Information

Scientific name: Serenoa repens

Pronunciation: say-ren-O-ah REEP-ens

Common name: saw palmetto

Family: Arecaceae (palm family)

Subfamily: Coryphoideae

Plant type: shrub

USDA hardiness zones: 8a though 11a (Figure 2)

Cold Hardy: 11°F to 15°F (−11°C to −9°C)

Origin: Southeastern United States

UF/IFAS Invasive Assessment Status: native

Attractant: bees, insects, birds, mammals, bears, and others

Uses: small tree (3 to 6 feet), ground cover, shrub

Availability: native species

2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map for Florida detailing the zones of every county
Figure 2. USDA hardiness zones for in Florida. The hardiness zones for Serenoa repens are 8a through 11a. For alternative viewing, visit this link to find zones for exact locations by interacting anywhere on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/. 
Credit: Adapted from the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Description

Height: 3 to 6 feet

Habit: creeping, rhizomatous

Plant density: dense

Crownshaft: none

Growth rate: slow

Cultivators: Blue-green leaved forms occur naturally along the southern east coast of Florida.

Hazard: spines on petioles

Foliage

Leaf type: palmate, induplicate, folded slightly, stiff; divided deeply into several dozen segments that split at the tip

Leaf size: 3 to 5 feet wide on petioles with backward-pointing spines (Figure 5)

Leaf color: light-yellowish green to green, blue-green, or silverish

Thick collection of several green saw palmetto shrubs planted in a mulch-based soil mixture along the bend of a road or path.
Figure 3. Green (foreground) and blue-green (background) Serenoa repens.
Credit: Karen Williams, UF/IFAS

  

The green stem with reddish-brown stripes that sits at the center of saw palmetto plants; attached to the stem are smaller, thinner stems containing tiny flower clusters.
Figure 4. Green Serenoa repens with inflorescence.
Credit: Karen Williams, UF/IFAS

 

Saw palmetto plant growing out and horizontally from grass-covered ground; it has blue-green palm fronds and a short trunk. The whole plant looks as though a short tree lays down on the grass.
Figure 5. Blue-green Serenoa repens with creeping trunk.
Credit: Karen Williams, UF/IFAS

 

Close-up of several saw palmetto plants together, showing the different shades of fronds: light-yellowish green, green, and almost silverish blue-green.
Figure 6. Contrasting green and blue Serenoa repens.
Credit: Karen Williams, UF/IFAS

Flower

Flower color: white

Blooms: spring

Inflorescence: 2 to 3 feet long, intertwined within leaves

Fruit

Fruit size: ½ to 1 inch long

Fruit color: deep, shiny blue-black

Fruit characteristics: not showy, inconspicuous

Irritant: no, unpleasant odor when ripening

Trunk

Trunk/bark/branches: subterranean, creeping 

Culture

Light requirement: moderate to high

Soil tolerance: widely adaptable

Drought tolerance: high

Salt tolerance: moderate to high

Soil pH: acidic to very alkaline

Hurricane tolerance: high

Other

Nutritional requirements: low

Human hazards: spiny

Medicinal uses: Fruits are used to prevent and treat an enlarged prostate.

Uses and Management

This palm is typically used as a shrub and groundcover. It can also be used as a specimen plant or grouped together to form a buffer shrub border.

Propagation is by seed.

Caterpillars and fungi affect the inflorescence and fruits but not the ornamental value.

Pests and Diseases

Pests

  • Palmetto weevil (Rhynchophorus cruentatus)
  • Palm bud moth or coconut moth (Atheloca subrufella)
  • Palmetto borer moth or cabbage palm caterpillar (Litoprosopus futilis)

Diseases

Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) is a fungus that causes premature fruit drop.

References

Hodel, D. R. 2012. The Biology and Management of Landscape Palms. The Britton Fund Inc.

Matrazzo, S., and N. Bissett. 2020. Native Plants for Florida Gardens. Pineapple Press.

Meerow, A. W. 1992. Betrock’s Guide to Landscape Palms. Betrock Information Systems. 

Riffle, R. L., P. Craft, and S. Zona. 2012. The Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. 2nd ed. Timber Press.