Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Serenoa repens - Saw Palmetto, Silver Saw Palmetto
Edible Portion: Nuts, Cabbage, Fruit, Palm Heart
A fan palm with a short trunk. Sometimes it is creeping or underground. It forms clumps and is prickly. The trunks are slim and can be 3-6 m high. They are covered with fibres and leaf bases. The trunks can form branches, especially if the tip is damaged. The leaves are fan shaped. They are stiff and the leaf stalks are thorny. The leaves are 1 m long and the leaf stalks 1-1.6 m long. The leaves can be green, blue-green or blue-silver. The leaves are held stiffly erect. It produces flower stalks among the leaves. Flowers contain both sexes. The fruit are oval and 2 cm long. They are black when ripe. They are edible. Each fruit contains a single seed.