Saw Palmetto
(Serenoa repens)

Description: A shrub with thick, branched, creeping or horizontal stems above the ground, at times reaching a tree size up to 6 feet. The leafstalks are usually longer than the blades, with sawlike teeth on the sides. Leaves are fanlike, with sword-shaped leaf blades coming from a central point. The fragrant, ivory white flowers with 3-5 petals, grow in plume like clusters. Fleshy olive shaped fruits are dark-purple when ripe, surround 1 large seed, and grow in large branched clusters. Found in eastern and central North America in sandy soils, pine forests, prairies, dunes.

Medicinal: The fruits smell rancid, but are edible. The palm heart is used for a cooked vegetable or
in salads. It is a diuretic, expectorant, and tonic. The dried berries are used as a tea for colds, asthma, congestion, a tonic to build up strength after illness, for easing symptoms of prostate problems, urinary and genital organs, bladder infections, and could have aphrodisiac powers. Steep 1 teaspoon of the dried berries in
1 cup water. Take 1-2 cups a day or 2 capsules of the powdered extract twice a day, or 2 droppers full of the tincture 2 times a day.