Saw Palmetto

Serenoa repens

tree

Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is a slow, clumping, fan-leaved native palm of the Southeastern US, usually 4 to 8 ft tall, forming vast colonies in pine flatwoods, scrub, and coastal dunes from the Carolinas to Florida and Texas. Its sharp-toothed leaf stalks (the "saw") arch out in stiff fans, and in fall it ripens hanging clusters of dark, olive-like berries that are its harvested part and a well-known herbal extract. Extremely tough, fire-adapted, drought- and salt-proof, and astonishingly long-lived (some clumps are centuries old), it is grown for those berries and as a rugged evergreen landscape palm - but it is hardy only in warm zones, roughly 8 and up.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Yaupon — A native Southeastern evergreen holly that shares the sandy, well-drained ground
• Beautyberry — A native shrub of the same Southeastern woods and flatwoods
• Pawpaw — A native understory plant suited to the warm Southeastern conditions

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Palmetto weevil →

  A large weevil that can attack stressed or transplanted palms; keep plants healthy and avoid transplant stress

• Palmetto scale →

  Sap-sucking scale on the fronds; treat with horticultural oil if heavy

• Generally pest-free

  Established saw palmetto has few problems and needs little intervention

🌾 Harvest & storage

Harvest the berries (drupes) in fall, from about August to October, when they ripen from yellow-green to brownish-black; pick them from the clusters, minding the saw-toothed leaf stalks. They are traditionally dried for use as the well-known extract. The plant is slow to come into bearing, so harvest from established clumps. Dry the berries thoroughly. Note that wild harvest of saw palmetto berries is regulated in Florida and requires a permit, so grow your own or buy responsibly.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Saw palmetto is grown for its berries, traditionally dried and made into the well-known herbal extract rather than eaten as a fruit (fresh berries are strongly flavored and not a dessert food). The palm itself is a tough, evergreen, fire- and salt-adapted native for warm-climate landscapes and a valuable wildlife and honey plant, its flowers feeding bees and its fruit feeding many animals.