Arecaceae
Palms are a diverse plant family with tropical and subtropical distribution.
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The Arecaceae, a family within the monocot order Arecales, are perennial flowering plants better known as palms. Their growth forms range from climbers and shrubs to stemless plants and tree-like specimens, the latter often called palm trees. Scientists currently recognize 181 genera and roughly 2,600 species, nearly all confined to tropical and subtropical zones. Palms are among humanity’s most familiar and widely cultivated plant families, holding historical significance—especially in the Middle East and North Africa—and remain important today for landscaping, food, and various everyday products.
Etymology
The name Arecaceae comes from areca plus the suffix -aceae. Areca entered English via Portuguese from Malayalam aṭaykka, itself from Dravidian aṭ-ay-kkāy (“areca nut”). The suffix -aceae is the feminine plural of Latin -āceus (“resembling”). The word palm derives from Latin palma, which also meant “hand front” due to the splayed shape, ultimately tracing back to Proto-Indo-European pl̥h₂meh₂; its direct Old English descendant was folm.
Morphology
In terms of morphology, palms grow either solitary or clustered, whether as shrubs, tree-like plants, or vines. The typical form is a single shoot topped with a crown of leaves. This monopodial growth can appear in prostrate, trunkless, or trunked species. Some palms, like Washingtonia and Roystonea, are always solitary.
Others grow in dense clusters: an axillary bud near the base of the trunk produces a new shoot, which in turn generates another bud, creating a sympodial habit. Examples include many rattans, Guihaia, and Rhapis. Several genera contain both solitary and clustering members, and usually solitary palms may occasionally cluster, and vice versa.
Palms bear large, evergreen leaves that are either palmately (fan-shaped) or pinnately (feather-shaped) compound, arranged spirally at the stem’s top—a consistent trait across all species, with no known exceptions. Each leaf has a tubular sheath at its base that typically splits open on one side when mature.
The inflorescence is a spadix or spike surrounded by one or more bracts (spathes) that become woody with age. Flowers are generally small, white, radially symmetric, and either unisexual or bisexual. Sepals and petals usually number three each and may be distinct or fused at the base.
Scientific classification
- CladeTracheophytes
- CladeAngiosperms
- CladeMonocots
- CladeCommelinids
- OrderArecales
- FamilyArecaceae
Named by Bercht. & J.Presl, nom. cons.
Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Arecaceae (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Lore & Background
The word Arecaceae is derived from the word areca with the suffix '-aceae'. Areca comes, via Portuguese, from Malayalam അടയ്ക്ക (aṭaykka), which in turn comes from Dravidian aṭ-ay-kkāy ('areca nut'). The word palm originates from Latin palma, semantically overlapping with 'hand front' due to similar splayed shape, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pl̥h₂meh₂, with the direct descendant folm once existing in Old English.
Palms have two methods of growth: solitary or clustered. The common representation is a solitary shoot ending in a crown of leaves. Some common palms restricted to solitary growth include Washingtonia and Roystonea. Palms may instead grow in sparse though dense clusters, with the trunk developing an axillary bud at a leaf node from which a new shoot emerges.
Exclusively sympodial genera include many rattans, Guihaia, and Rhapis. Several palm genera have both solitary and clustering members. Palms have large, evergreen leaves that are either palmately or pinnately compound and spirally arranged at the top of the stem, with the sole exception of the king raphia (Raphia vinifera variety nigerica) which has opposite pairs of fronds.
Reader's Guide
Palms are notable among monocots for their height and the size of their seeds, leaves, and inflorescences. Ceroxylon quindiuense, Colombia's national 'tree', is the tallest monocot in the world, reaching up to 60 metres tall. The coco de mer has the largest seeds of any plant, 40–50 centimetres in diameter and weighing 15–30 kilograms each (coconuts are the second largest).
Raffia palms have the largest leaves of any plant, up to 25 metres long and 3 metres wide. The Corypha species have the largest inflorescence of any plant, up to 7.5 metres tall and containing millions of small flowers. Calamus stems can reach 200 metres in length.
Most palms are native to tropical and subtropical climates, thriving in moist and hot climates but found in a variety of habitats. Their diversity is highest in wet, lowland forests. South America, the Caribbean, and areas of the South Pacific and southern Asia are regions of concentration. Colombia may have the highest number of palm species in one country.
Only about 130 palm species naturally grow entirely beyond the tropics, mostly in humid lowland subtropical climates. The northernmost native palm is Chamaerops humilis, reaching 44°N along the coast of Liguria, Italy. The southernmost palm is Rhopalostylis sapida (nīkau), reaching 44°S on the Chatham Islands. Palms inhabit a variety of ecosystems, including humid moist forests, freshwater swamps, tropical mountain habitats above 1,000 metres, grasslands, scrublands, and desert oases.
Did You Know?
- Palms do not have the ability to increase stem width via the same kind of vascular cambium found in non-monocot woody plants, resulting in a cylindrical trunk of almost constant diameter.
More in Flowering Plant Families
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Arecaceae (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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