Starting on July 1, the state of Florida will enforce harsher penalties for illegally harvested palmetto berries, the fruit of the Saw Palmetto tree. Instead of misdemeanor offenses, violations of the new state statutes will be felonies, according to the Collier County Sheriff's Office.
"It's prolific. The illegal harvesting of the berries is happening all over the place," said Sgt. David Estes, of the Collier County Sheriff's Office Agricultural Division.
In Collier County during the 2023 fruiting season for the trees (approximately July 1 - Oct. 1), 101 arrests were made, and more than 30,000 pounds of illegally harvested berries were confiscated, according to the sheriff's office.
"As a three-man unit, in the course of the season, we wrote about 170 criminal charges," Estes said.
The fruits of the trees have been utilized since the 1800s, and are typically sold at a high price to manufacturers, who grind the fruit into powders to make supplements. Users of palmetto berry supplements claim that berries help increase libido, and promote prostate health.
"Immokalee is the mecca for that industry, so to speak. Some of our major landowners here in Collier County could have losses to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year," Estes said.
In addition to felony penalties that could stem from illegal harvesting, wildlife and horticultural experts worry that frequent picking of the state-recognized "commercially exploited plant," could impact wildlife.
"They grow very slowly. These saw palmettos can grow almost excruciatingly slow, and there's been some studies on it, growth at about 1.2 centimeters per year. I just look at it as it is another living organism out here that has been here potentially since the 1800s ... they do demand a bit of respect," said Eric Foht, the natural resources director for Naples Botanical Garden.
"These plants have historically been important for mammal populations like bears and deer, but they also support a lot of our birds, like wild turkeys, warblers, because those bird populations will use both the fruits but also the insects that are attracted to the flowers as a food source. We've lost a lot of that habitat that would be otherwise available for those plants to grow, create habitat for like the mammals, the birds and the insect communities that are out on our landscape," added Brian Bovard, a professor of plant ecology at Florida Gulf Coast University.
In order to legally pick the berries, you must have:
- A free permit via the Florida Department of Agriculture
- Written permission by the landowner to pick on their property
The Collier County Sheriff's Office told ABC7 News that those who purchase illegally picked berries will also be prosecuted.