Saw PalmettoTop
The plant grows from 6 to 10 feet high, forming what is called the 'palmetto scrub.' It has a crown of large leaves, and the fruit is irregularly-spherical to oblong-ovoid, deep red-brown, slightly wrinkled, being from 1/2 to 1 inch long and about 1/2 inch in diameter. It contains a hard brown seed. The taste is sweetish and not agreeable, and the panicle containing it may weigh as much as 9 lb. It has no odour. Top
Range:
Southeastern N. America - South Carolina to Florida, west to Arkansas. Top
Habitat:
Low pine woods, savannas and thickets, where it often forms substantial thickets. Also
found on coastal sand dunes. Top
The benefits of Saw Palmetto can be traced back centuries where the
aborigines of Florida depended upon the berries as a staple food item and was included in
the Indian medicine mans array of healing herbs. Top
The History of Saw Palmetto
The fruit of Saw Palmetto has been eaten by humans for thousands of years.
The aborigines of the Florida peninsula have inhabited the area for 12,000 years. Their
diet consisted of seeds, fruits, sweet potatoes, meat, shellfish and frog legs. Although
the taste of Saw Palmetto fruit is reported to be repugnant the fruit was a staple food
item for the Seminole indians. Folklore has it that the Indians dried the fruit and kept
it for a year round food source. The Indian medicine man also kept a medicine bag of Saw
Palmetto around to treat atrophy of the testes, impotence, inflammation of the prostate,
low libido in men, and as a general tonic to nourish the body. Other historical uses have
included the treatment of infertility in women, treatment of underdeveloped breasts,
increased lactation, painful menstruation cycles, anti-inflammatory, appetite stimulant,
and as a tonic and expectorant for mucous membranes, particularly the bronchial passages.
In 1907, Lilly & Company set up a Saw Palmetto drying facility in Vero Beach, Florida.
It consisted of wire racks set up on the beach where berries were placed to air dry. Early
settlers took the berries to this drying station by horse and carriage and were paid cash
for their berries, much as pickers are paid today. Saw Palmetto was so much respected at
the time, that early settlers fed it to their horses and mules that had urinary problems.
In 1908 Saw Palmetto was included in the United States Pharmacopoeia where it remained
until 1946. Natural medicine was losing popularity in the US at the time, beacuse:
1. Drug manufacturers could not get patents on natural remedies and thus could not be
protected from competitors copying its formulas and research.
2. Technology and research at the time could not identify active constituents, and it was
not until standardized extract techniques evolved in the 1950s did Saw Palmetto regain its
popularity. In 1998, Saw Palmetto was once again included in the USP-NF.
Meanwhile in the 1950s, natural medicine was gaining popularity in much of Europe and Saw
Palmetto once again began to regain its popularity. Pharmaceutical companies such as
Pierre Fabre, Scwabe, Tad, and Evers were amongst the first to reintroduce Saw Palmetto in
its standardized extact form. Today, there are 28 pharmaceutical companies in German alone
that market Saw Palmetto products in the treatment of BPH. Top
Plantation Medicinals (the largest U.S. producer) harvests about 5,000 tons of saw
palmetto berries per year in Hendry County, Florida. The second largest producer of the
berries is Wilcox Natural Products in Boone, North Carolina. The export of saw palmetto
berries from Florida has become a $50 million dollar a year industry, with about 2,000
tons of the berries exported to Europe each year. Top