Saw Palmetto

(Serenoa repens)

An excellent plant based medicine for men's health. Serenoa repens fruit works amazingly well in a formulary along with Urtica dioica root.

Other Names:

Dwarf palm, sabal palm

Range:

Family:

Arecaceae - Palm Family

Growth Type:

A low shrublike fan palm

Height:

Can grow to 10 feet tall.

Leaves:

The leaves that have a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of about 20 leaflets. The leaves can grow up to 6½ feet long. Each leaflet can reach slightly more than 3 feet in length. The petiole is armed with fine, sharp teeth or spines that give the species its common name. The leaves are light green, but as you near the coast, the color changes to a more silvery-white.

Stem/Trunk:

Creeping, horizontal, simple or branched stem.

Root:

Like all palms, saw palmetto has roots that are mycorrhizal

Flower Season:

Spring to summer

Flower Appearance:

The small yellowish-white flowers are produced in dense compound panicles up to 2 feet long.

Seed/Fruit:

The large drupe (fruit) ripens to a reddish-black color. This fruit has been an important food soure for humans, birds, animals, and insects alike.

Miscellaneous characteristics:

N/A

Habitat:

Florida scrub, pine forests, and prairies

Parts Used:

Fruit

Culinary Uses:

The fruit can be eaten raw, or it can be made into jams, jellies, and pies.

Energetics:

Taste: Pungent/Sweet
Thermal: Warming
Humidity: Drying

Traditional Medicinal Uses:

Supports prostate and male urogenital tract health. Benign prostate irritation, with dribbling, dull ache, and no rectal symptoms; chronic, boggy urethritis, with dull ache, urgency, no culturable infectious agent. Treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (nocturia, polyuria, urinary retention) secondary to BPH stages I and II, as defined by Alken, in cases where diagnosis of prostate cancer is negative. Shown to block the action of 5-alpha-reductase, an enzyme that converts testosterone to a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (a more potent form of testosterone). Dihydrotestosterone appears to play a role in developing androgenetic alopecia (AGA), more commonly known as male-pattern hair loss or baldness.² As a diuretic and to treat an enlarged prostate. As an aphrodisiac, a sedative and a nutritional tonic, as well as for the treatment of bronchitis, cystitis, dysmenorrhoea, sore throat and the common cold.

Indications:

Alopecia, BPH, Cyctitis, Erectile Dysfunction, Hirutism, Impotence, Infertility, Low Libido, Nocturia, Prostatitis, Testicular Atrophy, Prostate Cancer, Urethritis, Virilism