ABSTRACT
Classification and Nomenclature Scientific name: Serenoa repens (Bartram) Small; synonym: Sabal serrulata (Michaux) Nutall ex Schultes (Blumenthal, 1997); previously named Sabal serrulatum Roem & Schult., Serenoa serrulata (Michaux) Hook f. (Vogel, 1970); Brahea serrulata (Michaux) H. Wendl.; Chamaerops serrulata (Michaux) H. Wendl.; Corypha repens Bartram; and others (Bennett and Hicklin, 1998) Family name: Arecaceae
Common names: saw palmetto, palmetto scrub (Pizzorno and Murray, 1993), American dwarf (Koch and Biber, 1994), dwarf palmetto, Sabal japa (Vogel, 1970), Sabal (McGuffin et al., 1997), and cabbage palm (Anonymous, 1994)
Description
Serenoa repens, the sole member of the genus (Bennett and Hicklin, 1998), is an evergreen palm indigenous to Florida, South Carolina, and the West Indies, with spiny, ascending leaves arranged in a fan shape consisting of 18-24 segments. It grows to heights of 2 m or more and the leaves measure 1 m in width. In Florida, saw palmetto commonly occurs in pine forests. The genus name Serenoa was given in honor of Serenoa Watson of Harvard University, and repens is descriptive of the creeping growth of the plant (Bennett and Hicklin, 1998). According to Bailey (1939, 1949), the name saw palmetto was given in reference to the stiff palm-shaped leaves that are attached to petioles of up to 1.5 m in length covered with sharp, tough, recurved teeth such as those of a saw.
