Yep, that's the description of Saw Palmetto's! We've had issues here in Florida for quite a few years now where groups of people trespass onto private property and steal the fruit to sell. If they see you in your yard, they ask if they can take the fruit but in our old neighborhood we found them slowly driving by, watching homes and if they thought no one was home, they would pull into the driveway and walk all over the property, taking berries. My sister had to call the police last year when she saw a car in her neighbors driveway and knew the neighbors were out of town because they watch the house for them. The car had pulled into the driveway and parked. My brother in law walked over and there was a lady with young children in the car while a man was hacking away at the saw palmettos, throwing the stalks with fruit into the trunk. My brother in law told the man that they needed to leave the premises and the guy said that he had permission from the homeowners to take the berries ... when they were told the police had been called, they took off very quickly!
When we bought our home in Sebastian, we rented it out for a year before moving down there and a few months after we moved in, we were doing some landscaping in the front yard when a car stopped out front. A guy got out with a machete and asked my husband if they could take berries, saying that we allowed them to do it the year before! We knew that our tenants had not allowed it so we told them absolutely not, that they were trespassing and they went on their way. The neighborhood is a private, gated community but that means nothing ... landscapers have been known to give the gate codes out to others! The codes are changed by management every so often but it doesn't mean a thing because people have to give the code to their landscaping companies or delivery people, friends, etc. Neighbors are now always on the alert during the time of year when fruit is present on the palms trees. There are a couple of law enforcement officers who live in the neighborhood and they keep watch too but it still happens.
I'm far from a Palm expert but I've seen so many S. repens seedlings here in Fla. zone 9a and 9b over the years and it's the first one that came to mind.
