Serenoa repens
Slow-growing, creeping palm native to Florida and the southeastern United States, with waxy, deeply divided leaves forming dense ground cover or low clumps, highly drought- and salt-tolerant, bearing white flowers and blue-black drupes whose extracts are marketed for prostate health and hair loss.
Common Names
Saw Palmetto, Scrub Palm
Summary
Saw Palmetto is a slow-growing evergreen shrub forming dense clumps via creeping rhizomes, typically 3–6 ft tall and 4–10 ft wide. It has palmate, fan-shaped leaves that are green to silver-green with spiny petioles, and carries creamy white, fragrant flowers in spring followed by blue-black drupes that wildlife feed on; native to the southeastern United States, it occurs in pinelands, dunes, sand pine scrub, and mesic hammocks and woodlands, and is pollinated by bees.
Cultivation prefers full sun to partial shade and well-drained sandy soils, tolerating drought and moderate salinity; propagation is by seeds or rhizome cuttings, with nursery stock often container-grown and field transplanting difficult. Uses include ground cover, mass plantings, borders, or backdrops; maintenance is low with minimal pruning; pests and diseases such as palmetto weevil, palm bud moth, palmetto borer moth, and anthracnose can affect fruit drop; fruits provide wildlife food and have historical medicinal uses for benign prostatic enlargement.
Lifecycle
Perennial
Height
3 ft 3 in – 10 ft
Spread
4-10 feet
Hardiness Zones
Zones 8-11
Sunlight Requirements
Ideally full sun; tolerates partial shade.
Soil Type
Well-drained sandy soil
Soil Drainage
Well-drained soil
Soil pH
No specific pH; tolerates acidic to alkaline soils
Bloom Color
Yellow-white
Bloom Time
Spring
Foliage Color
Green foliage, with common variations including yellow-green, silvery-green, blue-green, gray, and silver tones.
Fall Foliage Color
No fall color change
Leaf Lifecycle
Evergreen broadleaf
Growth Rate
Slow growth
Seasons of Interest
Spring, Summer, Fall
Propagation Methods
Seeds, Cuttings (Rhizome cuttings, 15–20 cm with growing points), Division (separate rooted offshoots from established clumps), Vegetative propagation from horizontal stems and rhizomes, Rhizome fragments
Attracts Wildlife
Attracts bees, butterflies, other pollinators, birds
Taxonomy
- Taxonomic Rank
- Species
- Author
- (W.Bartram) Small
- Publication
- J. New York Bot. Gard. 27: 193 (1926)
Superior Taxa
- Kingdom
- Plantae
- Subkingdom
- Pteridobiotina
- Phylum
- Angiosperms
- Order
- Arecales
- Family
- Arecaceae
- Genus
- Serenoa
Synonyms
Sabal serrulata Brahea serrulata Serenoa repens f. glauca Chamaerops serrulata Corypha obliqua Corypha repens Serenoa serrulata Diglossophyllum serrulatum Serenoa serrulata Diglossophyllum serrulatum Diglossophyllum serrulatum