Arecaceae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Arecaceae (palm family)

Manila dwarf coconut palm

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae

Genera

Many; see list of Arecaceae genera

Arecaceae (also known as Palmae or Palmaceae), the Palm Family, is a family of flowering plants, belonging to the monocot order, Arecales. There are 202 currently known genera with around 2,600 species. Of all the families of plants, the Arecaceae is the most easily recognizable as distinct by most persons. The type member of this family is the areca palm, the fruit of which is chewed with the betel leaf and often confused with it. The Date Palm, Rattan, and Coconut also belong to this family. Palm sap is sometimes fermented to produce palm wine. Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil produced by the oil palms in the genus Elaeis. The Palm Sunday festival uses palms, hence the name.

Economically important genera include:

Areca
Arenga
Attalea
Bactris
Borassus
Calamus - rattan palm
Cocos - coconut
Copernicia - carnauba wax palm
Elaeis - oil palm
Euterpe Cabbage Heart Palm, and A�a� Palm
Jessenia
Jubaea Chilean Wine Palm and Coquito Palm
Orbignya
Phoenix - date palms
Rhapis
Roystonea - royal palm
Sabal - palmetto
Salacca - salak
Veitchia
Wallichia
Washingtonia

See list of Arecaceae genera for a complete listing.

Coconut Palm on Martinique

Fruit of a garden palm tree

In the United States, different types of palm trees can be seen in tropical climate areas, such as Florida, California and Hawaii and along the Gulf Coast through southern Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana to Texas. The southeastern state of South Carolina is nicknamed the Palmetto State because of the number of palms that line the state's Atlantic coast. Some arecaceae can grow as far north as Maryland, Arkansas, and even up along the Pacific coast to Oregon and Washington. There have even been known species of transplanted palm trees that have survived as far north as southern New Jersey [1] (http://www.bg-map.com/palms/woodbury.html). The desert areas of Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico are also home to some native palms.

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References

C. H. Schultz-Schultzenstein (1832). Nat�rliches System des Pflanzenreichs..., 317. Berlin, Germany.
N. W. Uhl, J. Dransfield (1987). Genera palmarum: a classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore, Jr. (Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas)

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External links

Kew Botanic Garden's Palm Genera list (http://www.kew.org/cgi-bin/web.dbs/genlist.pl?PALMAE) A list of the currently acknowledged genera by Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London, England.
Taxonomy of the family Arecaceae (http://www.plantapalm.com/vpe/taxonomy/vpe_taxonomy3.htm)
PACSOA (http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/) Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia palm species listing with images.
Plant a Palm (http://www.plantapalm.com/vpe/photos/vpe_photos.htm) A website with a large amount of information on palms, their cultivation and uses. This link goes to the photo gallery via species listing.bo:ཥིང་ཏ་ལ