Saw Palmetto
Botanical: Sarenoa
serrulata (HOOK, F.)
Family: N.O. Palmaceae
---Synonyms---Sabal.
Sabal serrulata.
---Part Used---Partially-dried ripe fruit.
---Habitat---The Atlantic Coast from South Carolina to Florida, and
southern California.
---Description---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.
---Constituents---Volatile
oil, fixed oil, glucose, about 63 per cent of free acids, and 37 per cent
of ethyl esters of these acids. The oil obtained exclusively from the nut
is a glyceride of fatty acids, thick and of a greenish colour, without
fruity odour. From the whole fruit can be obtained by pressure about 1 1/2
per cent of a brownishyellow to dark red oil, soluble in alcohol, ether,
chloroform and benzene, and partly soluble in dilute solution of potassium
hydroxide. The fixed oil is soluble in alcohol, ether, and petroleum
benzin. The presence of an alkaloid is uncertain.
The following formula will
give elixir of sabal with terpinhydrate. Dissolve 1.75 gram of
terpinhydrate in 40 mm. of Ruid extract of sabal and 10 mm. of alcohol.
Add 1 mm. of tincture of sweet orange peel, 0.2 mm. of solution of
saccharin, 40 mm. of glycerin, and 100 mm. of syrup. This preparation will
contain 8 grains of terpinhydrate and 184 grains of sabal in each fluid
ounce.
---Medicinal
Action and Uses---Diuretic, sedative, tonic. It is milder and less
stimulant than cubeb or copaiba, or even oil of sandalwood. Like these, it
has the power of affecting the respiratory mucous membrane, and is used
for many complaints which are accompanied by chronic catarrh. It has been
claimed that sabal is capable of increasing the nutrition of the testicles
and mammae in functional atony of these organs. It probably acts by
reducing catarrhal irritation and a relaxed condition of bladder and
urethra. It is a tissue builder.
---Dosages---Of
fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 drachm. Of solid extract, 5 to 15 grains.
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