Field journal 📔 ID: Serenoa repens Common name: saw palmetto 🌴 Not to be confused with sabal palmetto, whose leaves are folded in the middle instead of flattened out, the saw palmetto is an important part of Florida’s ecology. 🌴 1️⃣ Saw palmetto is one of the plants that is “most highly used by Florida wildlife,” providing for more than 300 insects, butterflies, bees, flies, and beetles. 2️⃣ Saw palmetto is an important player in the fire ecology that Florida’s habitats have adapted to. If left too long without a burn, these plants can become a severe fire hazard. However, when fire is included in the land management, saw palmettos thrive and are some of the first plants that pop up from the ground just days after a fire. 3️⃣ Saw palmetto can live to be more than 2,000 years old. 4️⃣ Saw palmetto is a very hardy plant—it can grow in almost any lighting condition and is drought-tolerant and salt-tolerant, meaning it can be found in almost any habitat in Florida (as long as it’s not too submerged in moist soil). 5️⃣ The ethnobotanical uses of saw palmetto are numerous, with the leaves being used for thatched roofs, mats, and baskets. 🌴 *Some argue that palm trees are not technically “trees” and are instead grasses because their trunk is fibrous rather than woody. 🌱 💚 🌴 #explorida #roamflorida #florida #flstofmind #floridaliving #florida_greatshots #fun_in_florida #LoveFL #monroecounty #sawpalmetto #serenoarepens #palmtree #floridakeys #nature #naturelovers #getoutdoorsfl #southflorida #curryhammockstatepark @visitflorida @thefloridakeys @lovefl (at Curry Hammock State Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpyfHmCOtD4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
