Renaming of complementary medicine ingredient - Serenoa serrulata
16 January 2007
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Herbal Ingredient Names Committee (HINC) considered the naming of Serenoa serrulata at its twenty-eighth meeting.
HINC determined that 'Serenoa serrulata Hook' is a taxonomic synonym of 'Serenoa repens (Bartram) Small' and that Serenoa repens is considered to be the correct name of the two conspecific species. The HINC accepted the Approved Herbal Name (AHN) "Serenoa repens", to replace the AHN "Serenoa serrulata". This decision is also supported by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre1.
The new naming will be phased in over two years. Sponsors must ensure that the correct AHN, Serenoa repens, is used on their product labels at the next print run, or by 11 December 2008, whichever should occur first.
Serenoa serrulata and Serenoa repens are commonly known as Saw palmetto.
1 WHO Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring., 2005., Accepted Scientific Names of Therapeutic Plants and their synonyms., Sweden., The Uppsala Monitoring Centre.