Serenoa repens                                                 Photo Fiona Sunquist ©

Throughout Florida you will find saw palmetto beneath pine trees, behind coastal dunes and in hammocks. The trunks sprawl along the ground, and dense clumps of large, 3 foot-high fan shaped leaves grow above the trunks.

The stalks of saw palmetto have very sharp, saw-toothed edges, and the combination of sprawling trunks and saw-edged stems make palmetto almost impossible to walk through. Just in case you consider it a challenge, you should know that palmetto is a favorite habitat for rattlesnakes.

Saw palmetto honey is highly prized and saw palmetto is now a popular herbal remedy for kidney ailment.

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