Each leaf can live for 1 to 2 years. When a leaf dies, it loses its color and stays attached to the stem for about a year. Palmetto leaves are covered with a waxy coating which make them highly flammable. Because the stem is so well protected, it never burns down to the ground. After a palmetto burns, the charred stem can produce a new leaf within a week of the fire.
Palmettos are one of the quickest scrub plants to respond after a fire.
The stem and growing point of the scrub palmetto are usually under the sand and stay protected from fire. Although palmettos respond quickly after a fire and are difficult to kill, young palmetto seedlings take a long time to get established and mature enough to produce flowers. Saw palmettos are clonal , so are more likely to spread underground than to produce new seedlings from fruits. Most populations of saw palmettos are made up of very old, well-established individuals. Saw palmettos grow in dense impenetrable thickets and can reach heights of 6 to10 feet or more.