Saw palmetto

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Major honey crop — yields a surplus in good years

Which bees, and why

Worked intensively by honey bees and by a large native bee community. The Florida scrub is one of the most distinctive habitats in North America and holds a number of species found nowhere else.

Worth knowing

A heavy spring nectar and pollen source across a very large area.

Flowering

In flower

April to June (northern hemisphere)

Flowering intensity varies markedly between years and depends on fire history — burned scrub flowers more heavily.

When nectar flows

Heavy in a good year across enormous areas of Florida scrub, and one of the state's principal flows.

Year-to-year variation

Variable between years and closely linked to fire management. Florida scrub is a fire-dependent habitat, and suppressing fire reduces both the flowering and the habitat itself.

What it does to the honey

Medium amber, smooth and buttery with a distinct warm spice and a slightly smoky finish. It is one of the more characterful Florida honeys and less widely known than it deserves.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun on dry sandy soil, extremely drought-tolerant and fire-adapted. It resprouts readily after burning.

Size

1-3 m tall from a creeping trunk that may run many metres along the ground.

Native range

The southeastern United States coastal plain, and especially abundant in Florida.

Suits

Large gardens

• Extremely slow-growing and effectively permanent once established.
• Adapted to fire; scrub habitat that is never burned degrades and flowers less.
• The saw teeth on the leaf stalks are genuinely sharp — site it away from paths.

What it looks like

A low palm with a creeping horizontal trunk and fan-shaped fronds on stalks armed with sharp saw-like teeth, which give the plant its name. Dense branched panicles of small cream flowers appear in spring.