Arecaceae
(Palm Family)
Habit
- mostly trees with unbranched "woody" trunks; mostly
monoecious or
dioecious
Leaves
-
alternate,
sheathing, often in dense
terminal
rosettes, mostly extremely large and
palmately or
pinnately lobed or
pinnately compound
Flowers
- in various arrangements but always subtended by 1 or more
sheathing bracts (called a
spathe)
Tepals
- 6; similar in color, texture
Stamens
- mostly 6
Gynoecium
- of 3
carpels,
distinct or
connate;
ovary
superior with 1-3
locules and 1
basal or
axile
ovule/
locule
Fruit
- a fleshy (date) or
fibrous
drupe (coconut)
Diversity
- 100 genera/3000 species;
Distribution
- mostly tropical; 1 in AZ and S. CA
Economics
- edible products coconut, dates, palm oil; palm hearts (
apical meristem of 1 species--obviously kills
the plant....some countries cultivate e.g., Costa Rica; others collect wild palms with
detrimental effects).
Notes
-
Images
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