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Serenoa
repens (W. Bartram) Small
Standardized Common
Name: Saw
Palmetto
Family: Arecaceae (Palmae)
Taxonomy: Serenoa
includes only one species, S. repens, which is endemic to the warmest
parts of the southeastern United States and especially common in Florida. This
species has been placed in several different genera, as taxonomic opinion on
the palm family has changed. The basionym is Corypha repens W. Bartram;
synonyms include Chamaerops serrulata Michx., Corypha obliqua W.
Bartram, Sabal serrulata (Michx.) Schult. & J. H. Schult., and Serenoa
serrulata (Michx.) Hook. f.
Description: Shrub; trunk short,
usually underground or prostrate, sometimes ascending, often clustered, usually
covered with persistent leaf bases. Leaves large, palmately compound,
fan-shaped; petioles to 1 m long, rigid, with sharp recurved teeth; leaf
without midrib; leaf segments to 20 or more, narrowly lanceolate, pleated,
fused at bases, with acute or bifid apices, green or glaucous blue-gray;
hastula (triangular extension of petiole at base of leaf segments) obtuse, well
developed on upper surface. Inflorescences paniculate, many-flowered, borne
between leaves. Flowers creamy white, ca. 6 mm long; calyx cup-shaped, 3-lobed;
petals 3, elliptical, reflexed; stamens in 2 whorls of 3 with filaments basally
fused to each other and to petals; carpels 3, separated at bases, fused above,
only 1 maturing. Fruit a drupe, ellipsoidal or oblong, 1.5–2.5(–3.0) cm long,
(1.0–)1.2–1.5(–1.9) cm in diameter; immature fruit yellowish, turning black.
Parts
in Commerce:
Fruit, often sold partly dried
Identification:
- Ellipsoidal to
oblong or ovoid; not globose nor pear-shaped
- 1.5–2.5(–3) cm
long, usually 1–1.5 cm in diameter, distinctly longer than wide
- Outer surface
black, conspicuously wrinkled when dried
- Base with small
circular scar
- When fresh, with
layer of pulp over a thin hard endocarp; when dried, pulp shrivels to a
thin dry layer clinging to endocarp
- When dry fruit
fractured, three thin layers visible: black exocarp, orange to reddish
brown mesocarp of uneven thickness, yellowish to reddish brown endocarp
- Inside surface
of pit smooth, contains single seed
- Seed broadly
elliptical, slightly flattened, usually 10–12 mm long, reddish brown,
hard; one side of seed usually with a prominent double groove and ridge,
other side smooth except for a small round scar or dimple marking
attachment of funiculus
- Odor aromatic,
fruity
- Taste aromatic,
slightly sweet and acrid
Adulterants: Other palms,
especially Sabal etonia Swingle ex Nash and Sabal miamiensis
Zona, could potentially be confused with S. repens in the field. The
fruits of Sabal species found in Florida are almost spherical, rather
than being distinctly longer than wide as in Serenoa. Fresh fruits of S.
repens have a definite pulpy mesocarp, whereas drupes of some other species
have scanty pulp and a papery exocarp.
References:
British Herbal Medicine
Association. British Herbal Pharmacopoeia. BHMA; 1996:166–167.
Hawkes AD. Notes on the palms. 2. Saw Palmetto Serenoa
repens Small. Natl Hort Mag. 1950;29:93–95.
Nelson G. The Shrubs and Woody Vines of Florida.
Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, Inc.; 1996.
World Health
Organization. WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants. Vol. 2. Geneva: World Health Organization;
1999–2002:285–299.
Youngken HW. Text-Book of Pharmacognosy, 5th ed. Philadelphia, PA: The
Blakiston Company; 1943:157–159.
Zona S. The genera of Palmae (Arecaceae) in the southeastern
United States. Harvard Pap Bot. 1997;11:71–107.
Zona SA. Arecaceae. In: Flora of North America
Editorial Committee, eds. Flora of North America, vol. 22. 2000;95–123.
Figure 67: a–b, Serenoa repens fruit and seed.
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