Premature Fruit Drop in Saw Palmettos Caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides.

Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is a palm species that grows naturally in the southeastern coastal plain of the United States and is most abundant in Florida. Extracts from saw palmetto fruit are sold worldwide in pharmaceutical and dietary supplements in a market valued at $2 billion per year. Lesions on blossoms and fruit and premature fruit drop were first observed in 1996.