Palm Trees

Biogeography
By: Ginger Burns
 Scientific Classification
Arecaceae or Palmae (also
known by the name Palmaceae,

• Kingdom:
• Plantae
• Division:
• Magnoliophyta
• Class:
• Liliopsida
• Order:
• Arecales
• Family:
• Arecaceae
Schultz-Schultzenstein
 Genera and Species
• There are roughly 202 currently
known genera with around 2600
species, most of which are restricted
to tropical or subtropical regions of
the Earth.
.
.
.
Distribution
Whether shrubs, trees or vines
palms are limited to two methods
of growth.
Solitary Growth

Clusters

And
Occasionally, a plant is very often
clustering with the occasional solitary
member or the converse.

This grove of the native species Washingtonia

filifera in Palm Canyon, California is growing
alongside a stream running through the desert.
 Morphology
1. They have large evergreen leaves that are
either palmately ('fan-leaved') or pinnately
('feather-leaved') compound and spirally
arranged at the top of the stem.

2. The leaves have a tubular sheath at the

base that usually splits open on one side at
maturity
3. The flowers are generally small and white,
radially symmetric, and can be either uni-
or bisexual 5. The fruit is usually a single-seeded
4. The sepals and petals usually number three drupe [5], but some genera (e.g. Salacca)
each and may be distinct or joined at the may contain two or more seeds in each
base. The stamens generally number six, fruit.
with filaments that may be separate,
attached to each other, or attached to the
pistil at the base
 Taxonomy

• Palms are a
monophyletic group of
plants, meaning that
the group consists of a
common ancestor and
all its descendants
 Arecaceae is the first modern family of
monocots that is clearly represented in the
fossil record
Range and habitat
• The vast majority of
palms exist in the
tropics.
• Diversity is highest in
wet, lowland tropical
forests, especially in
ecological "hotspots“
• Madagascar, which has
more endemic palms
than the entire
continental Africa.
Coconut palm trees
Colombia mayin Mumbai, India highest
have the number of palm species in
one country.
 Range and habitat

 
 

World map with the tropics highlighted in red

 Range and Habitat
• It is estimated that only 130 palm species
grow naturally beyond the tropics, most of
which grow in the subtropics
• Palms inhabit a variety of habitats
 Origin of Species
• Arecaceae-is a Pacific genus
of uncertain geographic
origin
• However since all related
species classified in the
subfamily Cocoideae have a
South American origin
(except perhaps the
coconut, Cocos nucifera),
• It is thought that Sympatric
speciation
• Took place
• Sympatric speciation is
more strictly defined as the
emergence
• of two species from a
population in which mating
has been random
• with respect to the place of
birth of the mating
partners2.
 Origin of Species of the Coconut Palm
• Comparatively little is
known about the origin and
early distribution of the
coconut palm, probably
because it was so widely
spread throughout the
tropical areas of the world
so many years ago. It is
believed to be native to the
Malay Archipelago or the
South Pacific.
 Acanthophoenix crinita
'Dark Spine Palm'
• Country of Origin :
Reunion
Acanthophoenix sp. tripaludis
• Country of Origin :
Reunion
• Extremely rare Palm
 Beccariophoenix madagascariensis
South Form

Country of Origin :
Madagascar
Bismarckia nobilis
[ Medemia nobilis ]
'Bismarck

Probably the most

beautiful palm !
Global Distribution
 Dispersal
• Passive Dispersal
Seeds float in the water
or drop to the
ground (clumping
May occur)
 Sweepstakes Route
• By chance the seeds are dropped in the water
and carried over long distances.

• Some Arecaceae Seeds can not live in salt

water and those plants are isolated to specific
islands or regions.